What Lies Underneath
by greenhillsblueskies
Summary: A mysterious illness infects Sonic and Shadow's friends one by one, making them lose sight of everything except furthering its spread. In order to survive, the two hedgehogs will need to stick together long enough to stop it... but neither of them imagined just how close they would become. (Sonadow. May be M rated later.)
1. Zero

Silver knew his early morning training was going to be more difficult to keep up with as the days grew shorter. In the summer, five a.m. was right as the sun began to rise, and his warm up jog would be set to the beautiful views of colors streaming through the trees. Warmth would cut through the cold of night little by little until the day was fully upon him. He would grin at the light, feeling it wake him up and greet him to the day. It almost made running pleasurable.

These days, it was pitch dark, and he could barely see two feet in front of him. Great.

It was a struggle for Silver to run. He had to consciously stop himself from letting his mind take over. His ankles strained from the impact. His muscles tensed painfully. His chest felt like it was on fire. It would have been so easy for him to just hover; gliding for five miles was quick and easy, after so much practice in the future when it was the only way to go between buildings. Running the same distance was still a challenge, and what's more, only he was keeping himself accountable. Some days, it felt impossible even to get out of bed, put his shoes on, and go outside, let alone actually run.

Still, he was determined to grow stronger. He'd never be as fast as Sonic or Shadow were - that was their own special ability after all - but he could recognize a weakness inside himself, even from where he should be. Fights in the future were pretty simple; fire beasts driven purely by instinct, with predictable movements and only combat as their motivation. This time period was more challenging; the enemies quickly changed and upgraded, their directives shifting with the whims of their mad genius master, and the worst part, he seemed to be the only one unused to it. To deal with these threats, he needed more endurance, more speed, more agility… more everything. Some running, some muscle work, and fine tuning his psychokinesis would go a long way to being able to meaningfully contribute to the fight against this time's evils. To stop falling behind.

Like he was doing now. He kept his pace as even as he could, but still felt his resolve crumble as he realized he was going slower. If he tried, he could have convinced himself it was because he was running in the woods in the dark and he didn't want to stumble and fall. He ultimately knew, though, that wasn't the truth - he only slowed from the pain that comes from inexperience, and it filled him with frustration. Instead, he bit his lip, trying hard to push onward. For his efforts, he only went slower - and then tripped over a fallen branch. His face stung in the cold morning air as he fell face first in the dirt, and his eyes stung with tears of embarrassment. _I have to keep moving. I have to keep-_

Silver heard a snap from off the path as he brushed some of the dirt off himself and stood up. An animal? Panting heavily, he glanced off to his right and saw a large shape, falling down. He couldn't quite make it out. _Should I keep going?_ He thought. _It's probably just a deer, or another runner-_

Another snap, and a small thud.

 _Or whoever it is could be hurt. Or lost. Wouldn't it be selfish to keep moving without at least looking into it? It would only take a minute._ His body had fully stopped at this point already, literally stuck in thought. _I can always come back if it was nothing. The whole point of this is to help people… right?_ He stepped off the path almost unthinkingly after this revelation, inching his way towards the shape in the woods. The branches tangled up around his ankles, and he had to be careful not to stumble or trip again. How did most people do this, he wondered. Walking felt so awkward, and at times like these, almost dangerous. One slip, and he could be cut up, or stabbed, or pricked by thorns. The shape twitched, like it was struggling against something. As he approached, there were more snaps, more thuds, and…whirring? Bubbling? His arms rose, his body tense. The possibility of an enemy came to the surface, but even if that was the case, he could be prepared. His breaths were practices, smoothly going in and out. This time, he'd be ready. This time, he–

He paused.

One of Eggman's robots lay on the ground. A big one too, by the looks of it. What was this one called again - an Eggforcer, or something like that? It was about the size of Omega, with large turrets on its arms and a thick chassis. From what he could make of the paint job, this seemed to be a newer model; the paint on it was fresh, hardly scratched up at all despite being caught in this thicket. It would have been a formidable opponent were it active, but right now it was powered off with only hollow dark where its power lights would normally be. Silver approached timidly; going up to a bot like this when it was deactivated was almost worse than when it was actively fighting him. In his mind, he pictured a predatory animal sleeping, knowing it could wake any moment and tear you apart. Bending close, though, he could see that wasn't the case - there was a large gash in the bot's head, splitting apart the central processor like tin foil. There was some kind of dark, thick liquid lining the inside. Mud, maybe? Or crude oil? A gust of wind blew by and it rippled. Upon closer observation, Silver noticed it was actually covering the entire body in a very thin layer.

He leaned down, puzzled. He couldn't leave it here, in case it miraculously reactivated or reinforcements came to collect it - despite the gash, it was still in much better shape than these were normally after an attack, and could probably even be reused. Should he take it to Tails to reverse engineer it? No, not the best plan - he couldn't lift it normally, and carrying it with psychokinesis would draw a lot of attention to it. If he could only find a landmark, he could probably run back and bring someone out here to look at it. That ran the risk of losing it in the meantime, but if he was fast, he could make it back on the path and be back in no –

He heard something move from beneath him. The liquid, whatever it was, started to gather in the center of the robot's body. Silver leaned in close. Was there some kind of divot in the metal, where it was pooling? No, he realized. It was remarkable; somehow, it was actually responding to some kind of outside stimulus - like it was being touched, or frightened. Prodding it with a stick, the liquid shivered, then wrapped itself around it briefly before recoiling back in on itself. Silver had never seen anything like it before. Was this thing…alive? It was fascinating and chilling at the same time.

Reminded of what he was doing, he realized he couldn't just leave it here. Whatever it was, it was alone out here, and it seemed…scared, somehow. If he carried it long enough, he could find his way back to the main town. Maybe he'd take it to Tails or one of his other smart friends who could find out what it was, and why it was stuck to a robot like this - how something seemingly without a steady form could possibly act like this. He extended a finger out to touch it, hoping it wasn't poisonous, and tried to coax it on the stick. "Come on, little guy," he found himself saying in soft tones - could this thing even hear? "Just get on the stick, and I'll take you to some nice new - HEY!"

It jumped out, clinging to his finger. An involuntary cry left Silver's lips, and he started to shake it off. It felt strange, like a tingling slime, and he realized it was crawling up his arm. The fabric of his gloves melted underneath it, and his eyes widened. "No no no, get off!" he yelled without thinking, but whatever this was, it either didn't understand language or didn't care. If anything accelerating its ascent, moving aggressively until it coated him from finger to shoulder. He tried pushing it off with his other arm, but quickly realized how stupid of a move that was; it clung to that one as well, expanding over both and sticking them together. He tried using psychokinesis, but it was stubborn, not budging in the least with all his efforts. Inside his mind was the image of a cocoon from a book Silver had read, and he remembered some page talking about how when caterpillars morphed into butterflies, there was a time they were rendered as unconscious jelly, barely keeping the genetic material it had before reforming completely. Silver started to panic - his breath sped up, nearly hyperventilating. He had to get to a hospital or animal control or something before this got out of hand. What if this was dangerous? What if it was going to kill him!

With a moment of realization, he realized he had lost sight of the path. He had followed the sound to get here, sure, but paid no attention to where he was going. _Stupid, stupid, stupid!_ He looked around him but it was too dark, and the ground didn't show any of his own footprints. He desperately kept looking, but the substance had covered his eyes, making him lose the little light he had left. "Shoot shoot shoot shoot shoot!" he muttered, and then realized his mistake as the intruder used his open mouth to force its way into his throat. The tingling heightened, overwhelming him from both the inside and the outside. It didn't make any sense to him. It didn't –

Silver fell forward as the sun broke the horizon.

* * *

At midday, Sonic was looking out of a window. A gentle breeze lightly touched the trees, their orange and red leaves swaying peacefully. His gaze was soft, his head resting on his shoulder as he watched. Some would detach and flutter aimlessly to the ground, falling back and forth in the air or spinning with the wind. It was early enough in the season where green grass still poked through those that had hit the ground, and one of the last spurts of warmth gave the air a haze that made the ground look like it flowed.

A lazy day. Nice. Quiet. Serene.

Boring.

Sonic hated being cooped up in the house like this. Breaking his leg was the most obnoxious thing that had happened to him since…well, since forever. Both Amy and Tails would look at him with an I-told-you-so face when they came to visit, since they told him not to run outside so soon after one of summer's famed thunderstorms. Of course, he went anyway - honestly, who did they think they were kidding trying to talk Sonic out of a run - and the ground had been slick with mud and puddles, mucking up his shoes and making him slide around. Even then, he would have been fine if it hadn't have been for one last clap of thunder, distracting him just long enough to slide leg first into a fallen tree. His leg had gone one way, and his body…well, it went another.

Sonic felt the weight of his borrowed book against his cast-less leg, and he shifted it back and forth. He was done reading it - in fact, he finished two days ago - but there was still something comforting about feeling the cloth binding against his leg, the weight of it pressing against his skin. He had almost forgotten how much he enjoyed reading, since he didn't usually make the time for it. Hero's work. Races. Favors for friends. Too many things happening at once for him to slow down, unless like now, he was forced to - so the hours of time it took to read anything substantial were not normally available to him. Still, the books were a bright spot in an otherwise miserable couple of weeks; when he read a book, he felt like he could go anywhere or do anything, even if the reality of the situation was completely different. Through words on paper, he could travel the world, sail to the stars, vanquish the evils of this world… but he could also do something new, like conquer the seas with pirates, or solve a mystery a hundred years ago, or fall in love. New experiences, even if only in his imagination, filled him with excitement and hope, even if they seemed far out of the realm of possibility in real life. It helped to quell the thoughts in his mind, those secret whispers of doubt he always had. The ones asking what would happen if he tried something new, if he were to pick himself up and just… go. If he were to take a chance on the unexpected.

How ridiculous.

He was distracted enough by his own thoughts that he jumped a few inches in the air when the doorbell rang. He was expecting a visitor, but not so soon; another hour or so, maybe, but not now (not like Sonic was complaining or anything; he was desperate for company). The two crutches underneath him felt like stilts as he walked, digging uncomfortably under his arms. The doctor had told him that he would get used to them in no time, but Sonic started to seriously doubt it; it had been two weeks since he had transitioned to these from his wheelchair, and he still felt off balance and uneasy. Sonic paused before opening the door, taking a moment to appreciate how fitting it was. It wasn't as though Shadow was unwelcome here - in fact, his company made him feel happy in a way he couldn't quite place - but whenever he came over, Sonic felt off kilter. He had never spent so much time around him before his injury, but again, it was something he never quite made the time for. And the more time he spent with him, the more he wondered if that had been a mistake.

Opening the door, something inside him fidgeted as he saw Shadow glancing off to the side. He was adjusting his quills, pushing the splayed ones in place with his fingers, and they rippled out behind him like the pieces of a fan. They looked soft, and though Sonic knew they could be razor sharp at the most sudden provocation, he felt his own fingers loosen from the crutches unconsciously. He may have even reached out to touch him if Shadow didn't turn to look at him sharply, shocking him out of his daze. "My bike is shot," he said as he let himself in, "so I ran over here. Am I early?"

Sonic shifted in his stance, trying to keep eye contact with him. He rocked on his crutches, ignoring the pain as they dug in to his sides. "Not too early. 'Sides, it's not like I'm doing much anyway. You want a glass of water or anything?"

"Can you carry it right now?"

Sonic laughed a small, nervous laugh. "Maybe if I'm creative. Balance it on…something. I dunno."

Shadow crossed his arms, taking a seat at the kitchen table. He didn't say anything about the odd turn of phrase, and he didn't need to. Sonic felt a rush of embarrassment enough, which puzzled him. Normally, he was really confident - cocky, even. But these days, he'd been stumbling over his words whenever Shadow came around. "I take it you've finished the last book I leant you?" the other asked him, and he nodded.

"Nearly a day ago," he said, speaking through a lump in his throat.

"That was nearly a thousand pages, and pretty dense if I remember correctly. I didn't think you would go through the Divine Comedy so quickly."

"What can I say? Reading about hell and purgatory is a lot easier than living it."

"I'm sure it can't be that bad."

"Says the guy who was able to _run_ here."

Shadow rolled his eyes, ignoring the jab and tossing his bag on the table. As he started to dig through it, Sonic exhaled. He knew that his bitterness was showing through a little, but that was one of the great things about Shadow's visits - he didn't have to put on a brave face or pretend things were better than they were. He could actually be himself, frustrations, annoyance, and all. And Shadow, in turn, didn't scold or even act surprised. Instead, he would accept it and keep moving onward.

The visitor looked intensely into his bag, which Sonic knew was always full with anything and everything the hedgehog might need. A side effect of being in a job where he could be called away at any moment, the bag held everything from a Swiss Army knife to a full meal at any given time - although after seeing another person get scolded for looking through it, Sonic knew better than to take a peek for himself. "I brought two books for you to choose from," Shadow said, pulling them out. They were both thick, dusty, and visibly aged from undoubtedly sitting for a long time on a shelf. "The Metamorphosis, or Frankenstein?"

Sonic looked at the two for a second before breaking out in a grin, almost laughing. "Geez, Shadow!" he said sarcastically. "Who knew you were such a downer?"

"Excuse me?"

"All your books are, like, monsters and torment," he said. Shifting his weight to one of the crutches, he started to wave the other in the air like a baton. "Oh, woe! I am a miserable beast, not meant to walk this earth among mortal men! What shame theree is in being me!"

Shadow did not appear to be amused. "If you'd rather sit in this house alone–"

"No!" Sonic said, a little too loudly. Shadow's eyes widened at the outburst, and his glance shot up from the table directly into Sonic's eyes. The latter's heart quickened, and he noticed that he was gripping tightly on his crutches again. He wobbled a little and tried to make it seem like he was trying to walk towards the table, but it was not convincing at all - he fell forward, only catching himself through a few steps, including some painful ones on his bad leg. Desperate to save face, his smile came back and he let out a forced chuckle. "I'm glad you come by, and I'm glad you're letting me borrow books from you. It's just, you know, don't you have any more books like those first ones you lent me? You know, the Arabian Nights and King Arthur - do you have any other books like that?"

Shadow sighed. "Sonic, are you aware of the phrase 'beggars can't be choosers?' Those were children's stories."

"Yes, but I know there's more to what you've got going on than just the one kind of story you're giving me, you know?" Sonic let himself get serious, standing up straighter than before. "You're a complicated guy, Shadow, and I think you've got so much more to you than what you're showing me. Some bigger story."

Shadow looked at Sonic intensely, and though Sonic tried not to show it, his heart didn't slow. Shadow's eyes lingered on his for a long time, as if thinking through a puzzle or putting him through a mental measure. It unnerved Sonic, but somehow, it didn't feel unwelcome; rather, it felt like a challenge. So he stayed, keeping his eye contact, determined not to let him see him sweat.

When Shadow looked away from him, he felt the pressure slowly leave his chest like air from a balloon. "If that's the case," Shadow said, muttering quietly enough that Sonic struggled to hear, "I think I have something else in here for you." He put his arms back inside his bag, reaching around in as though what he was looking for was buried deep inside and keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the inside. Sonic waited as patiently as he could muster, shifting his weight from one side to the other. What could Shadow possibly have in there? Didn't he say he only had two books with him? After a while, Shadow stopped and pulled out a third, smaller book. He delicately handled it, looking it over once before finally handing it to him. "This book is very important," he said. "If you lose it, or don't take care of it, I will find you and I will end you. You understand?"

Sonic shrugged. "I guess."

"I mean it," he said. "You cannot treat this like any old book. It is imperative that you treat it with the upmost care and concern."

"I promise I'll take care of it, Shadow. And you know I keep my promises."

"Then take it," he said, handing the book over to him. A buzzing came from Shadow's bag, and with an annoyed sigh, he pulled out his communicator. "This is Shadow…yes sir…no, it's not a conflict of interest. I barely know him…."

Sonic started to tune him out, instead looking more at the object in his hands. This book looked newer than most of the ones he had borrowed, but not by too much - it was about the size of Shadow's hand, and its cover still had a shine to it. The most striking aspect about it, though, was that there was a jagged red spiral on the spine, but no title. He was about to open it when Shadow closed the communicator, swearing under his breath.

"What was that all about?"

Shadow looked up at him. He paused a moment before answering, "Missing person's case. Normally not GUN's business, but this guy is apparently on their radar."

"Anybody I know?"

"…that's classified."

"Even to me."

" _Especially_ to you." He stood up, taking one last deep breath before slinging his bag back over his shoulder and placing the communicator back inside. As he looked up to see Sonic's worried expression, his expression fortified. "I'll take care of this. Your responsibility is to rest and recover. The sooner you do that, the sooner you get back to action. Right?"

Sonic pouted, tracing the doorknob with his hand before opening it. "You know, it's funny how you use that bike when you can go by foot so much faster. Why even use that hunk of metal when you've got a good pair of legs on you?"

"Do you run everywhere?"

"Yes."

"And look how well that ended for you."

Sonic laughed at that - a genuine, joy filled laugh - and for a glimpse of a second, Sonic could have sworn that he saw Shadow smile too as he turned away. Without so much as a parting greeting, Shadow took off. Sonic stayed at the door, watching him get smaller until he was only a speck in the bright blue sky. A sense of melancholy twinged inside him like the plucking of a string, but he ignored it, instead looking down at the new book. Somehow, it felt just right in his hands.

* * *

 **((AN: Um. So. Here's a couple of things you'll need to know before you get too far in this story.**

 **1) This story is Gay. Capital G Gay. It may take a but to get there, but make no mistake; these two are not just being Bros. If this bothers you, you might as well stop reading.**

 **2) This story is going to have a few squicky moments in it. Parasite/alien/disease/whatever is not pleasant business. If you want to read this anyway but want warnings for these parts, let me know so I can put them in.**

 **3) I like when people leave comments and things, even if it's just a "I read this once." It would probably take less than a minute, but I'd feel better about putting myself out there again. Ultimately, though, that's your call.**

 **Thank you for reading this. I promise author's notes will be shorter in the future.))**


	2. One

**((AN: After some of the comments, I'm going to put in brief comment warnings on anything that's particularly gruesome or squicky. I will warn you all that any of Silver's parts are going to be at the very least uncomfortable - but hey, you're the ones reading something with Horror as a genre. If I don't flag something that you think should have been given a content warning, let me know and I'll try to put it in the text for the future.**

 **All that being said, thank you for all of your kind comments that you've left. I really appreciate knowing that someone benefits from this effort other than myself.))**

His fingers moved first. They curled and uncurled, each joint a hinge isolated from the rest of the hand. Then the wrists, back and forth, side to side, clockwise, counter clockwise, and all of it over again. His tongue could do the same, he realized, and his head, and his torso. Knees couldn't do it, nor elbows, nor his legs at his hips, nor his feet, nor his ankles. Try as he might, he'd only get so far before some odd sensation stopped him. Deep in his mind, the word "pain" rose to the surface to explain the feeling, but it confused him. He'd expect resistance from flame, or acid, or a number of other things. His own movement, he felt, should be uninhibited, fluid and smooth. It all felt so strange - he had always lived in this body, but now none of it made sense to him; why should some places be able to twist and bend but not others? Why couldn't he press in other directions without Pain stopping him? It wasn't consistent. It wasn't logical.

Without realizing it, he was sitting up on the dirt where he had collapsed. His eyes opened and burned until he blinked, automatically. The comfort of it made him force the movement several times, trying to rid his eyes of the dirt stuck inside of them. It felt mechanical, and before long, he remembered that his body did it on its own; he didn't need to direct it to do anything. After some twisting on the ground, he realized he could rise on to his two feet, so with some wobbles and effort he did. Pain was in his eyes, but only for a moment. They adjusted to the light - it was the daytime, he realized. He was Awake, which meant some part of him needed Sleep. His head had Pain in it too, and though he thought of trying to shake it out, he felt a sense of calm overcome him and it was forgotten. The other one didn't need Sleep, but Charging. This was good; he could Sleep anywhere, but only Charge in certain places. He could cover more ground this way. Less difficult. More efficient.

With another experimental movement of his head, he saw the discarded robot. Nobody had come to collect the remaining shell, but then again, he wouldn't expect them to. What a worthless form, he thought with disgust. Its strength came at the expense of truly living, since it moved through electricity and circuits. It was much better to be a creature of blood, he thought. If he stayed still and paid attention, he could feel his heart beating - even the blood itself, as it flowed through his body. There was something else, too - a rising and falling of the chest, the air itself going in and out of a hollow cavity in his abdomen. He experimentally tried to stop the movement, but it was no use; moments later, it happened again, more pronounced than before. Again, it was automatic, like the movement of the blood or the blinking of the eyes, but it still felt new to him. He had never realized how many things his body did completely on its own, until he was forced to by…something. He couldn't tell what. He wasn't scared about it, so it must not be important.

Stumbling, he attempted a step, then two, and finally a third before losing balance. His arms shot out to the sides and grabbed a branch, moving without thinking but not automatic. An interesting act of self preservation, he thought, almost detached from what his body was doing. He tried taking steps again with the branch in hand, a little faster this time. He felt more stable now, but still couldn't keep up quite right. He couldn't remember how this worked, and there was nobody around to show him. Somehow, this didn't strike him as odd.

There was a sound. His head shot to the side, looking for the source of the reverberation in the trees. It was unlike the branches snapping or the air pushing through leaves - it was high pitched and, though repetitive, made something stir in his mind. "Silver!" it came again, and he recognized it. The sound was him. He was a Silver. No, he was Silver. Yes, that was right.

The sound came from another body, which was fast approaching his. It was about the same size, but pink. The thing was called Amy, he remembered. No, not a thing. She. She was Amy. She was Amy like he was Silver, individual but looking so much like him, same but different. "Oh my goodness, Silver! Are you okay?"

The sounds unscrambled themselves in his mind, and soon he understood them. He tried to see if he could make the same kind of sounds - her mouth was moving, so maybe that was the key to it. "O…okay," he managed to get out, using the air's movement and the curling of his tongue to shape the sound. It was only an echo of her last word, but it seemed to appease her as she visibly softened.

"Well, good! Blaze was looking for you earlier, you know. She said you normally went down that path over there in the mornings, but today you didn't come back, so I went, and then I saw that robot over there and came over in case it was still active. I got out my hammer and everything, but then I saw the metal was all bent like that, and you were moving around on the ground like you were hurt or something. Wait, did that thing attack you? It looks like you took care of it, but…Silver, you're not talking to me. Are you sure you're okay?"

The jumble of sounds all made sense to him after a second or two. It was Talking. Yes. And he could talk too. The air came through with less effort, until he almost didn't have to think about it. "My head has Pain in it," he said. It was easier to say things than it had been before.

"Well, we should get you to a doctor! What if you have a head injury?"

"No, no Doctor!" he said, more forceful then before. The Pain built up in his head, like something was screaming inside.

Amy looked at him and tilted her head. "Are you sure?" she said.

Something rippled in his stomach. A loud sound emitted from it, but it wasn't Talking, and it didn't cause Pain either. He put his hand on top of his abdomen, but the sound had stopped, and he couldn't make it happen again. Amy seemed to know what the sound was, because she grabbed his hand. "Oh, I see. You need to eat first. I'll take you to get lunch…or dinner? What time is it anyway? Anyway, whatever it is, it'll be my treat. And then you'll go to the hospital afterward. I mean, you're stable enough, so it's not like you have to go right away. Right?"

"Right," he found himself replying, and then he shook a little. There were three steps to understanding language, he realized. The first was recognizing the sounds. Then there was linking the sounds to words, which was more knowledge buried deep inside him. Then the implications of the words, when strung together, would become clear. He regained the knowledge of Talking quickly, but only now did he understand the full extent of what she was saying. A head injury. Was that why he was feeling so odd? The head was important. Something else stirred inside of him. Yes, it was very very important. Nothing else could be more important than the Head.

Amy began to run, and Silver's own legs followed hers. This was different from his first steps, when he was alone. He watched her legs as they tensed, their movements as they hit the ground and reached forward in anticipation of the next leap forward. His clumsy stumbles became more fluid as he moved, until he was running smoother than he ever had before. Everything had been lost to him, maybe from the "head injury," but that was fine; he learned again quickly. Soon, he may even live out the Purpose…a piece of knowledge he felt itching in the inside of his mind, but not one that came to the surface. But that was fine too. It was only a matter of time.

* * *

Sonic poured over the pages, flipping through each individual leaf of the book one more time. It was fruitless; he leaned his head back, groaning loudly in frustration at it all. He had tried shaking out the pages of the book, exposing it to heat in case there was invisible ink, holding it at different angles, but nothing came of it.

Blank. The book Shadow gave him was blank.

He traced the pages with his fingers, hoping there was some kind of indent or engraving that he was just unable to catch before. No such luck; their surfaces were smooth and flawless, with only slight wear around the edges and a flexible binding to suggest it wasn't a brand new book. How could Shadow have given him a book that was completely blank? It must have been some sort of joke.

But Shadow didn't make jokes. He never saw him do anything without fully intending to; every action, every movement, every gesture had a purpose. This wasn't his style. If Shadow gave this to him, it must have been for a reason. Maybe it was supposed to be some kind of makeshift mystery to occupy him for a few hours. But that didn't seem right either; Shadow wouldn't give him a puzzle without a solution. He set the book down and rubbed his temples, trying to think back. What had he been talking about with Shadow that made him so insistent on giving this to him? Something about…how depressing his normal books were. Or was it something else? It had been a few hours, and at the time, he was occupied with thinking about other things. Like the fact that even though he had plenty of friends, Shadow was the only one to come on a regular basis and bother to ask him about anything other than his healing leg. Or the Divine Comedy embodied the path to God in Dante's love for a girl, an idea so foreign to him that he was scared he wouldn't fully understand it. Or how he wanted Shadow to stay around and have a cup of the coffee that he had gotten especially for him, even though Sonic didn't like jittery feeling of sitting in his chair when excited by the caffeine that made his heart race so quickly the last few times Shadow came over. Or how he had never managed to get through such large books before Shadow had started giving them to him, and he wondered if Shadow read all of these books in his free time or if he had them for some other reason.

He slid the book across the table and looked at his phone. Maybe, if he didn't care about his pride so much, he would actually ask Shadow what he meant by the "book." For some reason, though, his hand stopped right as he was about to dial the number. If he were to ask why this was given to him, Shadow would only sneer. He'd rip the book away, probably. What if he even got mad enough that he refused to come over anymore, or to lend him books? Sonic didn't know if he could take that.

Besides, Shadow's on a mission, he thought. Probably not the best time to interrupt.

Chaos, when did he start caring about interrupting people when they were busy?

He looked at the window. It had been a few hours, and Shadow was as fast as Sonic normally was. He had to be done by now, right? At least with the briefing. And maybe this whole "confidential" business was just a front - Sonic was a world renowned hero, after all. Injured or not, his perspective had to count for something on a case like this. He could come, poke around a few top secret government files, help them find who they're looking for…and he could casually bring the book with him and ask, oh by the way, why did you give me a book without any words in it?

With renewed determination, Sonic sat up, grabbed his crutches, and started thinking of how he would make his way to the GUN base. The Tornado should have room for him in it, even with the bulk of his cast. He hadn't flown it himself in a while, but Tails couldn't have changed the controls that much. And once he got to the base…well, he'd come up with a plan to sneak around unseen once he got there. After all, he was Sonic the Hedgehog - he could think on his feet. He always had to, anyway.

Ignoring the pain in his leg from the larger shift in weight, Sonic propped himself on his crutches and made for the plane. The book stayed in his hand, and though it made walking more unsteady, he knew he could not leave it behind.


	3. Two

**((AN: In case it wasn't previously clear, do not follow Amy's lead when you think a friend of yours has a head injury, especially if they start behaving abnormally or seems confused. Take them to a doctor first. You all have good sense about these things, right?**

 **Content warnings for this chapter: Silver's part has vomiting, more explicit mentions of parasites, and some minor body horror. Nothing I can think of in Sonic and Shadow's part.))**

* * *

Silver dragged his fingers on the surface of the cafe table. Amy was insistent on eating here because the hospital was within walking distance, and he didn't refuse. The hospital was fine, he said, but not the Doctor - Amy couldn't see why he was scared of one but not the other, but the truth was that the concepts weren't linked together in his mind. A Doctor was controlling, not understanding, cruel. A hospital was… some kind of place. Maybe. He couldn't quite remember, but he'd figure it out eventually.

Food was a strange experience. He didn't pick the food he was given himself - Amy chose everything, telling him to just drink water and relax. A woman brought it out to him on top of a white plate, along with pieces of metal wrapped in a napkin. He looked at it - a bed of green leaves with some red slivers and blue spheres - until he realized Amy wouldn't be satisfied unless he did something with it. Following her lead, he took one of the metal pieces and stabbed one of the slivers before putting it inside of his mouth. It felt like sparks inside of his mouth, and his eyes went wide at the sensation of it. He recognized before how to feel, see, smell, and hear, but now he remembered what taste was like, and he wanted to know more. Eating by itself seemed simple enough, since he just had to take the object in front of him, chew, and swallow. He felt better after doing it, and Amy at least seemed to be under the impression that it was necessary. The complexity of experiencing tastes, though, is what made him curious. The red thing was spicy, he recalled the word, but the green things were bitter, the purple spheres were sweet, and the white liquid tasted like nothing at all. He experimented, eating slowly, then quickly, then combining the objects when he put them in his mouth. All this took a long time, and that was fine by him as well. Each bite, though different, felt good.

He almost forgot about Amy, who ate across the table from him. The woman had brought her some other kind of food, but since she had already finished eating she occupied herself with spinning her fork on her now empty plate. She watched him, her lips pressed together in a thin line, before tilting her head to the side and sighing. "Silver, are you sure you're okay? You're acting really weird."

He stopped mid bite. "Weird how?" he asked, his mouth still full and his teeth clattering against the fork.

"I don't know, you're not talking, you're walking funny… and you just ate that blueberry with a chile. I thought you didn't like spicy food."

He swallowed, then mirrored Amy's head tilt. "This is the food you gave me. You told me to eat, so I am eating."

"Well, yeah, but I didn't know it had peppers in it…I figured that a salad was a safe choice because you would probably like it."

"Are other foods dangerous?"

Amy giggled to herself. "You're so funny, Silver."

Silver didn't know what was funny about it. He thought it was a fair question. He kept the fork in his mouth by itself, feeling the cool metal against his tongue.

His stomach rumbled again, but it felt different from before. This wasn't like earlier, when he was hungry - the feeling wasn't Pain or emptiness, but rather, too much sensation all at once. Silver doubled over. His blood felt thicker, and it itched under his skin, scratching him from the inside out. His stomach folded and pressed on itself, and he felt the pressure of something coming up his throat. Caught off guard, his body wobbled and his vision spun. He put his hands down on the table in an effort to keep balance, but it was unsuccessful; instead, he stumbled heavily to the side, feeling like his legs were moving on their own, and his chest heaved with heavy panting. The table toppled, dishes flying and breaking against the ground with their half eaten food strewn everywhere, and the metal pieces skittered across the ground. His heart pounded, his breathing more frantic and urgent than ever. Did he eat something dangerous, or was this something else? It was overwhelming. He could barely think, so he let himself follow his first impulse; on instinct alone, he began to run.

"Silver, wait!" Amy yelled out after him, but he did not slow. He didn't know where he was going; he just pushed past people, one hand on his stomach and the other on his mouth. She lagged behind him, handing some kind of slips to the Waiter, and there was a throng of people between the two of them when he lost sight of her. He made his movements predictable; she needed to stay close, he thought, but the Pain came back to his head and it was too much, too much, too much.

He tucked into a dark alley before finally falling down. His knees and elbows got skinned on the gravel, but he only briefly noted it before his attention was called back to the inside of his body. He closed his eyes and curled up, shivering violently. He realized he was still holding on to the fork, and without thinking, he put it back in his mouth. Finally, he felt something solidify in his stomach, then slowly bubble up his throat. It rose up to meet the fork, and he felt the metal dissolve and disperse. With a heave, he opened his mouth and let the bile spill out. What came out was some half digested food as he expected, but there was something else too. It was black and shining….and beautiful. Something in the back of his mind remembered that this looked what was on the robot in the woods, but while before it had scared him, now it felt familiar. Like…a pet? Definitely not. A friend? Maybe, that's a little closer. It felt just as much a part of him as his arm or his chest, but it wasn't quite him, either. The pressure in his body diminished some, but he felt a small twinge of Pain against his skull. He could feel something snaking around inside, but he wasn't concerned about that. Instead, he felt worried for the black mass that came out of him. It couldn't survive outside like this, he realized. He had to find a host for it, and quickly, or it wouldn't survive.

Amy rounded the corner, her face turned red and her chest heaving with the effort of pronounced breathing. She glanced around the alley before her eyes landed on him, and she began to approach. "Silver! What on– I knew we should have gone to the hospital first! You can't even keep food down! You need to come with me right now!"

The thing writhed in his hands at the approach of the other hedgehog, and he turned his head to look at her. He put his hands down, coaxing it into his grasp, and it moved into his arms in a rippling motion. Standing up, he let it wrap around his arm like a serpent before gathering in a pool in his palms.

"Why are you– ugh, gross! Silver, get rid of that thing! You don't even know what that is!"

A glazed expression came on Silver's face, and he broke into a small smile as the calm spread out from his mind. He could feel the pulsing in his skull, the imposed warmth it was giving him. It was so obvious now, he realized. How could he have not seen it before? How important it was?

His hands moved with a speed unknown to him before, launching the substance towards Amy. It landed in a splatter across her neck and chest, allowing the impact to settle before it began to crawl across her skin. She let out a high pitched scream as she tried scraping the goop off of her, but Silver's calm didn't waver in the slightest. If anything, he felt more at ease as he watched it stretch upward. It climbed up her body like the roots of the world's most wonderful plant, and Silver's eyes went half lidded in contentment as it entered her throat, her ears, her eyes. He sighed as her screaming stopped, blocked by the black entering her throat, and he grabbed her as she collapsed in a comforting embrace. He was just so Happy. Soon, she would know about it too. The bliss of the Purpose. He couldn't wait.

* * *

Every jolt and buckle of the plane's flight made Sonic wince. As it turns out, Tails had made several changes to the controls; he couldn't maneuver the way he wanted to, instead hitting bumps and drafts hard. A small part of him wanted to lecture the kid about making too many changes without telling him what they were, since it was still technically Sonic's plane, but then he thought the better of it. After all, until today, he hadn't actually flown it himself in… how long had it been? Two years? Three? He let himself have an embarrassed laugh to himself. Okay, maybe going on a mode of transportation that was especially affected by turbulence was not the smartest idea, and maybe he was a little rusty at the actual flying part, but it's not like he had any other options. Well, one other option. But like hell he was going to stay home.

In any case, he had made it to the base, and some poor low-level private had let him in on sight. He knew he wouldn't be that lucky forever, and had to think of a different way to get past the GUN personnel who would know better than to let him go anywhere.

So here he was, army crawling through an air duct.

It was hell on his arms. His legs were usually where most of his power came from - all those years of running gave them muscles of steel - but with only one of them at full power and the other surrounded by solid plaster, they couldn't do much of anything. His elbows were already raw from rubbing against the metal, and the heat of it made him feel uncomfortable. Each drag against the surface felt startling, with small bumps sending jolts of pain up his leg. Before long, though, he heard two familiar voices that made it all worth it.

"Commander," Rouge was saying from… somewhere beneath him. His right? He moved in that direction, trying not to make a sound. "Why is this any different from the times Doctor Eggman has disappeared from our radar before? Normally this kind of thing is a standard alert, and he shows up on his own eventually."

"…Whether we like it or not," came a mumble from Shadow.

The Commander's voice, in contrast to those two, was loud and devoid of any obvious emotion. It echoed through the air duct, sound practically ricocheting around the sides, and dust filled the air. "Normally, we would be in agreement with you. The man is labelled as a terrorist, but aside from some minor property damage, the last attack deliberately attributed to him was the destruction of the side of the moon three years ago. Nothing particularly pressing or concerning."

"Not shattering the planet? Or the intergalactic slave trade?" Rouge piped in. Sonic could tell that some incredulousness was seeping in her voice, but she was trying hard to hold it back - she was in the presence of someone important, and even for Rouge, sometimes it was better to tone it down.

"Unproven that he is the cause, and outside our jurisdiction," the Commander replied. "In any case, he is normally lower priority than our other pressing public safety concerns. However, we received this transmission four days ago that makes us believe that he is devising some kind of new weapon - one that could be disastrous if left unchecked."

Some light shone through one of the grates, and Sonic moved closer. He was directly overtop of them now; he could see the three of them, facing the screen as the Commander queued up the transmission. From here, Shadow and Rouge seemed so small - the Commander imposed his status through physical stature and extraordinary arrogance, even for a human. Still, they both held themselves confidently, standing up straight and looking him in the eye. It must mean something that they could call out and question someone so high up in rank; Sonic realized he didn't know how exactly Shadow worked for GUN, other than that he was some kind of agent, but he had no doubt that his presence was well known. There were so many things he didn't know about Shadow, he realized. And yeah, the hedgehog was more than a little introverted, but maybe some of that was because Sonic never bothered to ask the right questions. When he saw him, he usually was contented with the challenge of a race, or exchanging jabs, or the occasionally fruitful efforts to get at Shadow's elusive smile….

The screen filled with static, the sound startling Sonic enough to almost jump. One of Eggman's assistant robots filled the screen, shooting selfie style. The robots weren't meant to display emotion, but Eggman regularly slipped in that regard; this one (was this Orbot? He thought that was right) looked worried, fidgeting with the recording device and blinking his eye sensors.

"Hello? Hello, is this on? Are you there? Oh my, I'm going to get dissembled for this for sure."

"What are you doing over there?"

"Just…tuning up my circuits, sir! Preparing for the big day!"

"Well, good! Come back here when you are done."

The robot turned back the camera, his "voice" lower. "Guardian Unit of Nations, I am reporting this to you against my programming and my instructions because this is a dire situation. The Doctor is doing something new. I don't know how to describe it…he's been researching infectious diseases and viruses, and he hasn't slept in three days."

Some clatters came in the background as Eggman screeched at whatever his latest project was in frustration. Smaller robots whirred around in the background, carrying wrenches and building materials. Orbot brought the camera closer to himself, as if to try and hide it.

"The Doctor is…erratic, at best. At least before, what he's done has been targeted. He'd maybe blow up a building, or hold someone ransom. I think this time, though, he's messing with something really dangerous. I think he's about to unleash a bioweapon, and as usual, he isn't thinking things through."

"Ah, yes, I've done it! Orbot, come over hear and take a look at the future, model H.E.L.– wait, no, what are you–"

There was a sound of crunching metal, and the video returned to static. After a second or two, Shadow tiled his head down and crossed his arms. "That's the whole transmission?"

The Commander nodded.

"So he's got another project? Why is this so concerning?"

"If this transmission is correct, Project, then the Doctor could be manufacturing the next plague. As it is, we'll be lucky if he hasn't already unleashed it, either on purpose or by accident. Your top priority is to find him and take him in, alive, for questioning. Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Rouge replied.

Shadow said nothing, staring off to the side. His contempt for the Commander was obvious, and Sonic could guess he knew why; from everything he had been told, he wasn't a big fan of the man either.

"Then get to it. I'll leave you here to gather as much information from the transmission as you can, then track down your most promising leads. I expect a status report every three hours."

"Understood."

The Commander left the room. Shadow and Rouge stood in silence for a minute, playing the transmission a few more times, before Shadow quickly turned around. Pointing his hands at the vent, he shouted with force, "Chaos Spear!" Electric energy shot out from the tips of his fingers towards the vent, and Sonic yelped involuntarily as he narrowly dodged the blades of Chaos. As he calmed down from the initial attack, he looked through the new smoldering holes in the vent - only to find Shadow staring right at him.

"What are you doing here!?" Shadow yelled. "I told you to stay home and rest!"

Sonic snorted. "Resting is boring! I figured I could help you with your secret mission-thingy."

"You thought wrong. Leave, now!"

Rouge turned to him and grabbed his arm. His head whipped around to see her, and she took on the tone of a concerned friend. "Shadow, maybe he's right. I'm sure the Commander would let him help us."

He sniffed. "The Commander will take advantage of anyone with a pulse if you let him. Sonic is injured. He is in no condition to take on anything right now."

"He got himself here fine, didn't he? Besides, he seems willing to help out. If it's only information gathering, we can always take him home before the real fight."

"…he would just slow me down."

"When has Sonic ever slowed anything down?"

Sonic listened to the bickering, the heat of the vent slowly getting to him. "Please, guys. I came all this way. If I'm not helpful, you can send me home and I'll understand, but if Egghead's really up to something dangerous then you know there's nobody more qualified than me to crack him!"

It was hard to be convincing when he literally could not move. Rouge looked at him with pity, leaning against the wall and giving Shadow a look that practically said 'just throw the kid a damn bone.' Shadow stopped, rewinding the transmission and pausing at the part that showed the most background behind the bot. "Do you recognize this place at all? From this image."

Sonic stopped and squinted. "Most of Eggman's bases look pretty simil– wait! Can your GUN computers zoom in on that thing in the upper right corner?"

Shadow hit a few buttons, and the corner got bigger. As the image clarified itself, Sonic sighed with relief.

"That bot, there, holding the bolts. It's a support bot that he used to use four years ago, but deactivated most of them after a few weeks when I, er, crushed their weak spots enough times."

"So they're old bots. How is that helpful?"

"Because if he's using it again, that probably means he went back to his old base where he made that model. He wouldn't transport it anywhere cause that's a waste of resources, but if he thinks nobody knows where he is and it's just going to sit there anyway–"

"–Then he'd reactivate it so that he could have another set of hands. That's…actually smart."

"I'm sorry," Sonic jeered, "I didn't hear that – what did you just say?"

Shadow scoffed. Crossing his arms, he turned back to look at Sonic and ignored his smug grin. "And which base would this be? You aren't saying the most important part."

Sonic brought his hand to his chin, mock scratching it. Shadow rolled his eyes, but Rouge grinned, used to his antics. "Well, lemme think. Four years ago was before the moon incident, but after the Chaos incident…that must've been when he was experimenting with the whole government hacking thing. He got a base on an island in the middle of the ocean, since it was technically international waters and could get away with more stuff there. And if he's really making a bioweapon, that's a good way to make sure that it doesn't get make people sick before, ya know, it's supposed to."

Rouge laughed. "Never thought I'd hear you use a phrase like 'international waters,' Sonic."

He grinned. "I've been fighting the Doc for a long time. Gotta know this stuff." He turned his gaze to Shadow, who was looking directly at him. Sonic could feel himself sweat…but that must just be from the heat from the vent. Right?

"Do you know the coordinates?" he said.

"Yeah, I'll put them down once I'm out of here. So can I help you or not?"

Shadow looked at Rouge, then the transmission, then Sonic. His arms uncrossed, and he closed his eyes. "The second, and I do mean the second, that you slow me down or interfere with me in any way, you will get much worse than a broken leg. Got it?"

Sonic's heart leapt in his chest, and he broke out in a big smile. He did it! "Yeah, let's do this! Well, after one thing."

"And what would that be, you pest?"

"Er, I'm kind of stuck in the vent. Can you help me out?"


	4. Three

**((AN: I use Scrivener for writing, and this chapter almost didn't go out because it had a persistent error that was causing it to crash whenever I typed anything. I spent six hours rebooting, uninstalling and reinstalling, sending reports to developers, looking through forums, then looking at error logs myself and parsing through recursive error messages.**

 **All of which is to say, I really hope you guys appreciate the effort.**

 **Content warnings for this chapter: Silver's part has more parasite-body horror shenanigans. Sonic and Shadow's part doesn't have anything this time. I'm keeping this T rated for now, but in the same way that Temple of Doom is PG13 rated; that is to say, it's still going to be uncomfortable, and kind of gross in later chapters. If you disagree with my judgement about this, let me know in comments. Thank you for reading.))**

* * *

The next few hours were filled with learning.

Silver looked on with a blank expression as the black overtook Amy. He couldn't see the changes, but he knew deep down what they were; it was wiping her old self away, just like his old self had been wiped away. A burst of pleasure spread through him, his eyes become half lidded as he let it overtake him. If only he knew back in the woods how good it felt to let himself go, to give in to something more perfect and strong. Would he have still touched it when it was attempting to stay attached to that worthless metal body? Would he have run, foolishly afraid of what changes it would bring? Or would he have embraced it, letting it come into him like a long lost traveller returning home?

He realized he didn't care. It didn't matter how he would have felt before. It didn't matter how anyone felt before. It was better for it to take them. For it to make them part of it. It was like, he realized, the blending of two colors; though they may start apart for a time and both may influence the final shade, the stronger of the two would be more dominant in their combination, and the weaker barely remaining. A deep black must overcome a wisp of silver, a tinge of pink. It was the way thins were supposed to be.

As it fully entrenched itself in her brain, everything doubled in a flash. Suddenly, he had two sets of eyes, two sets of hands, two stomachs, two chests, two Heads. He felt twice as much, saw twice as much, heard twice as much. Still, he was one unit - there was no real sense of separation between the two bodies, other than where they occupied space. None of this struck him as odd. After all, he wasn't just Silver anymore. Now, he was Silver and Amy both, and he was neither. Or was he even a He anymore? Could he really be a He if He was both He and She, and not either of them? Their bodies were separate, but ultimately they were part of the same whole, the same being, the same consciousness.

Exhilarating.

The second set of eyes opened, and Amy shot up. She instantly knew how to walk, how to breath, how to talk to some extent, but most other things evaded her. It didn't matter, though, at least not right now. She felt no sense of loss for her memory, nor did she feel a pressing need to understand. Instead, she just accepted the fact of it and moved on. Standing up, she looked at Silver as though he were her own hand. It wouldn't do to dwell on anything she had before, she realized. Now, only the Purpose mattered. Everything else must be secondary.

The two bodies sat on the pavement, their two sets of eyes watching as the sun set. The sky shifted in degrees, light reds giving way to purples and blues until, finally, the sky went dark. A light red haze crossed the sky, reflecting the city's artificial light back at them. Bright lights from the passing cars would shine directly in their eyes before passing, but it did not bother them at all. Instead, they kept watching, staying still until they were sure nothing more would change. Their bodies felt slower, they realized…run down. Tired.

"Sleep," they both said as they shook out of their stupor and glanced around. They knew they needed Sleep, but not where to do it, or what it looked like. Was Sleep like when they fell down after the Purpose had taken them? Was it like Charging, where they needed to be plugged into something? Where would they find a place for it? Or was it something else? The knowledge was there, they realized, but unless they saw it, they wouldn't be able to remember. It didn't break through the haze they felt in their minds, try as they might to retrieve it. This wouldn't do. If they didn't Sleep, they couldn't continue. It was essential.

They both stood up, getting a feel for both bodies before they walked aimlessly on the streets. There were less people around then before when they had food at the cafe, but the range of experiences called their attention much more than before. They saw a man talking to what they remembered was called a cell phone, but they couldn't remember what a cell phone did or how to get one. They saw another man and a woman walking down the street holding hands, both smiling. Silver and Amy started doing it themselves for a moment before letting go; it felt weird, and it didn't make sense to them anymore. They saw a mother and a child, and the child cried as the mother tried to comfort it. They remembered how to Nurture, and though they no longer felt it, they remembered the concept of Sadness. The two smiled, walking down the street. How glad they were that they couldn't have Sadness anymore; there was no room for it in a life dedicated to the Purpose. They fulfilled the Purpose, and they felt Pleasure when they did it. Everything else was irrelevant. They continued to move in synchronized steps, wrapped up in their own thoughts, until they stopped simultaneously, to stare at a stranger.

This woman was strewn across a park bench, a folded coat underneath her Head. Her eyes were closed. Her breathing was slow and even. Though she wasn't smiling, she seemed calm. This is what Sleep looked like, they realized, and they were glad. But something wasn't right about it, and this nagged both of them in the back of their minds. Sleep wasn't something normally done outside, they felt from deep down… but they couldn't remember where it was supposed to happen. It bothered them. Maybe, if they waited long enough, the woman could tell them where Sleep normally happened.

A cold wind blew, and the stranger stirred. Her eyelids squeezed together as she sat up, shivering slightly. As she blinked awake, she saw Silver and Amy standing in front of her, unspeaking, staring. She waited a moment or two for one of them to say something, but they didn't talk at all; they only stood and smiled. "What do you want?" she mumbled, unfurling her coat and putting it on.

"Where do we Sleep?" Silver and Amy asked in unison. It unnerved the woman who honestly just wanted some rest, but she brushed it off. It was late. She was tired. These were just some weird kids.

"Not on my bench," she said, starting to lay back down. The two tilted their heads, confused by her words, and she sighed. Of course they wouldn't Sleep on her bench. People didn't Sleep on benches, and besides, she was already there. They made no effort to move, expecting further explanation, until she sighed. Limply, she pointed her arm to the south. "Look, there's a shelter down the road that takes kids like you. It's called The Nest. I doubt there's any beds, but you can ask them for a place to stay. Maybe you'll even be lucky. Now please, just leave me alone."

The two nodded to themselves, then looked at each other. "Beds," Amy said by herself, experimentally. What was a bed, again? Was it like where the woman was Sleeping? No, that couldn't be right.

The woman stared at the two of them for a second. They didn't flinch, twice, or even shift their weight; instead, they were as immovable as statues. She adjusted her scarf, crossing her arms and sitting up straighter. "You're not going to leave until I show you myself, are you?"

"What is a bed?" Silver asked. "Show us."

She groaned and stood up. She adjusted her coat, buttoning it up and rolling her shoulders before moving. Her body creaked and cracked as she walked, and Amy and Silver both followed her. For a moment or two, they copied how she walked - hunched over, dragging one foot on the ground, clinging tightly to her clothes - before realizing that it caused Pain and walking like they had before. It was different, though, than how they knew to walk. Were such differences important? If there were other ways to walk, maybe they weren't doing it the best way. That wouldn't do, but they didn't worry about it too much. They needed to see a bed, first.

After several blocks, the woman stopped. She nudged her head to indicate a building on the side of the road, and both Silver and Amy looked at it. It was worn down, with a fire escape barely attached to the wall and mold on the outside of the bricks. There were lights coming on through the outside, but it still seemed like a cold, uncomfortable place. Over the door was a cheap gray sign, reading The Nest in bold, worn letters. "There you go," the woman said. "You happy? Can I finally get some peace?"

Amy and Silver did not move, instead looking at her and thinking about her question. Could they give her peace? That kind of feeling was a very different kind than the one for food or for sleep. Peace, calm, and bliss were fleeting before, they realized. So much of their lives had been taken by Sadness, Fear, Anger, and Loss, but before now, they had never been fully rid of them. Like weeds, they could never have truly gone before; when they took one away for a time, it would only spring up later. How much of their lives before had they spent chasing the happiness or serenity that they now felt all the time? How much time had been wasted in worry or strain, trying to get rid of the dreaded negative feelings that now seemed as inconsequential as wisps of smoke? Now, they could barely imagine what Sadness felt like; the part of them that could be sad or angry was gone, pulled up by the root, and it felt so much better without it. Their insides stirred, and deep inside them, they felt a strong need. They could Nurture her, they realized. Not only could they give her peace, but they had to; it was the right thing to do. The perfect thing. Their obligation. And they wouldn't stop with her; they could give peace to everyone. What a world it would be, if everyone could feel like they did now!

They both grabbed her arms roughly, throwing her off balance, and started to drag her away from the main road. She kicked and screamed, trying to fight the two of them off, but neither of them paid it any mind. The stirring of the Purpose inside either of them was not as overwhelming as it had been when Silver gave it to Amy, but there would be enough to share with her. Before long, she would have peace she asked for.

* * *

Sonic's face burned red.

Oddly enough, the soldiers - all highly professional men and women, trained in combat tactics and warfare that Sonic wouldn't even think about without feeling sick - didn't say a word about Sonic's presence in the GUN base. Instead, they were visibly off balance, looking away quickly and avoiding any semblance of eye contact as he walked alongside Shadow and Rouge in the hallways. He suspected it was due to Shadow's glares at anyone who gave them more than a passing glance. It looked like a dare - his expression seemed to radiate an attitude of importance, challenging any fool to question his choices, to question his judgement. Of course, they didn't, and they could move unimpeded. Sonic himself was one of the strongest fighters there was, and in most respects he considered himself to be Shadow's equal, but even he had to admit that if Shadow looked at him in a certain way, shivers would roll down his spine. Maybe he was just that intimidating.

Once they narrowed down the time period and distance, as well as the roughly triangulated results of the trace on the signal they found the exact coordinates of Eggman's base. Unfortunately, the Tornado wasn't big enough for the three of them, and the only available craft that could hold them all and travel the distance needed was a small helicopter. During the flight, the three of them sat in a space meant for two humans; Rouge piloted while Sonic and Shadow shared the other seat. The two of them had touched before, but only in the context of fighting or sports; never anything lasting, or warm. Sonic couldn't help but brush up against Shadow during the three hours they were in the air, feeling the heat of his skin seep into his own like the warmth of a blanket. When the other spoke, the deep vibrations of his voice went through Sonic like electricity, and Sonic could feel goosebumps trailing up his arms. And when a loud bang outside the plane caught Shadow's attention, he had leaned over Sonic to make sure it was nothing, his hand on his thigh and his scent filling the air. Even after it was over, Sonic couldn't stop thinking about how it felt, and a small part of him wanted to touch him again.…

Hence, the red face. Embarrassment. Yeah, that had to be it.

He didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed when the copter landed. Shadow helped him out of the plane, keeping him upright until his crutches were back under his arms. Once he found that Sonic was stable, he put a fair amount of distance between himself and the other two, muttering something about already wasting so much time. Sonic tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't acknowledge anything, so he turned to Rouge instead. The bat, unlike her partner, stayed behind and walked with Sonic, chatting amicably while Shadow searched the hall in front of them for any remaining traps. To be honest, it felt a little condescending - Sonic could just as easily see as ever, so he knew how to avoid the traps - but he didn't say as much to Shadow. In his own was, he knew Shadow was trying to keep him safe, and he felt glad for it. An odd feeling, but a grateful one, nonetheless.

When they reached the center corridor, Shadow hesitated before opening the main door. "This is strange," he muttered to himself. "There was hardly any resistance coming here...not even a token one..."

"What are you thinking, Shadow?" Rouge asked, cutting herself off mid sentence.

"This feels too easy."

"Like a trap?"

Shadow shook his head. "No, even for a trap. There were robots swarming the base in the transmission earlier, but not a one has fought us so far. Even abandoned bases normally have a few that the Doctor forgot to turn off. Even he wouldn't leave a base completely unarmed, and even his usual traps aren't being triggered."

"So what you're saying is," she said with a bit of a laugh, "is that it's quiet… too quiet?"

Shadow was not amused. He started to charge a Chaos attack, but stopped before he could unleash it. As it fizzled, he turned to the two of them with a concerned look on his face. "Rouge," he said, "you break down the door. I'll stand by Sonic."

The bat raised an eyebrow. "What? Why?" Sonic wanted to know why himself, but said nothing.

"Because if there is an attack, I can carry him out quickly. Or do you think you can fly him out with that cast?" Shadow gestured at the wretched thing, and Sonic winced. Oh yeah. That.

"I guess not." Rouge smiled, waving a finger at the two of them. "You boys will want to take a lot of steps back. You two may use your Chaos attacks, but I'm a fan of a good old fashioned bombs, and they can get pretty messy." She laughed and turned around, and the two hedgehogs scurried back as she worked on the door. Sonic didn't know where she was holding her tools - frankly, he didn't want to know - but sure enough, he heard the whirring and clacking of metal, then the furious beating of wings as she flew away from the ticking door. An explosion shattered the reinforced door and part of the surrounding frame, smoke billowing as the shards of metal flew. Rouge pursed her lips before coughing.

"That's odd. Normally that only makes a small hole. Either this door is weak, or I'm better than I thought." She smiled to herself, then turned to her two companions. "Are you two okay?"

Sonic nodded and threw a thumbs up. "We're all good! Let's go!"

The smoke dissipated, and the three of them entering the inner sanctum. Once they could see the inside, they were puzzled - Rouge even gasped in astonishment. Robot pieces were scattered everywhere. Stray arms and torsos littered the floors, and the floor crunched beneath their feet with metal bits. By itself, that wasn't unheard of - Eggman's robots were incredibly easy to break - but something about it made the group feel uneasy. None of the metal was warped, burned, or rusted like the bots they were used to seeing. They weren't broken from the outside, and they didn't explode, but they were in pieces and nonfunctional all the same. It was puzzling.

At one point, a crutch hit one of the stray pieces of metal and slid out from underneath him. Sonic's stomach dropped as he fell, face first, into the ground. A heavy thud echoed in the room, and both Shadow and Rouge turned to where Sonic laid on the ground. "Sonic!" they both yelled, and Shadow rushed over to him. Rouge was concerned, but more unusual was Shadow's own worried face as he came close. "Are you alright?" he asked, losing a bit of his calm, and Sonic only blinked. Where was this coming from, he wondered. Sonic had gone through a lot worse than a little fall before, sometimes even by Shadow's own hand, but Shadow looked at him now like he was something…fragile. It annoyed him, but not as much as it should have, and he said nothing about it.

For now though, he just rubbed his nose, where he was bleeding slightly. Nothing felt broken except his pride. "I'm fine," he said, brushing himself off. He exhaled through his teeth, trying to ignore the leftover stinging pain. "I'm- wait. What is that?"

His focus shifted to the robot arm now directly in front of him, and he crawled nearer to it to get a closer look. "I've never seen anything like this before," he said, as much to himself as to the others. "Look at the joints, guys. It's like they've…shoot, I forgot the word. Decomposed?"

Shadow moved closer, picking up the arm and holding it closer to both of them. More tiny pieces of metal shook off the end, but he paid them little mind. Instead, he squinted, holding it close to to the both of them. "They can't decompose because they've never been alive. Erosion, maybe…or dissolving. It almost looks like it got eaten by acid, but if it were acid it would be much less targeted…."

Sonic ran his finger over the joint, small pieces of metal sticking to his glove. He looked at the runoff, which tinted the fabric a dusty black. "Weird… could this have anything to do with Eggman's experiments? I thought he was working on something biological"

"That's exactly why this doesn't make sense. What kind of disease also affects robots? This doesn't look intentional… it's too widespread and messy. Maybe there was an accident."

Sonic was about to chime in with his own theory when he heard the buzzing of a computer booting on. Looking up, he saw Rouge's hands at the computer console, a look of pride on her face as the monitor whirred to life. "Or maybe we can just look at the last active security cam video," she said, fingers moving furiously across the keyboard. After a few moments, a near overhead shot flickered on the screen - only instead of the three of them and spread out debris, this was a lab whirring with active robots, surrounding the mad doctor himself. It was the same scene from the transmission sent to them, they realized - only now, it was focusing directly on the Doctor's actions. His eyes glinted mischievously as he lifted up hands covered in solid rubber gloves, revealing the device he was working on. It was only a small drone, with a canister embedded in the middle of it. "Ah, yes, I've done it! Orbot, come over here and take a look at the future, model H.E.L.– wait, no, what are you doing?"

Another bot had picked up what appeared to be a flight controller for the drone. The latter buzzed as it lifted from the ground, then moved jarringly about the air. "You idiot!" the Doctor screamed. "Be careful with that! If the prototype gets loose in here, it'll affect me! I can't afford to lose my genius, even for a moment. You–"

The bot controlling the drone, though, didn't listen. If anything, the drone moved more erratically, scraping against the walls, bumping against the ceiling and the floor. One particular bump made a cracking sound, and the Doctor's eyes went wide with panic. "Orbot! Cubot! Get the Egg Carrier immediately! It's going to blow!"

The last second of the video was the drone flying directly at the camera. As it made impact, the sound of something shattering barely came through before the feed was completely lost.

"Damn!" Shadow yelled loudly. "If he's in the carrier, he could be anywhere by now!"

"Well, not anywhere," Rouge said, putting her hands on her hips. "That thing only moves so fast, and if he left two days ago, stopping for food and rest, he's at most… one thousand and five hundred miles from here."

Shadow glared at her. "Yes, Rouge. That narrows it down significantly to, I don't know, the entire coastline!"

"Maybe, but that's only a starting place. And you forget, we have our resident expert on the Doctor here with us and access to all of the GUN databases. Sonic, got any ideas about where he went before we call it in?"

Sonic paused a second, looking at the two of them, then at the arm. He knew they had their orders, and he didn't want to ask about the consequences of not following them. Still, though, the terrified sound of Eggman's voice when talking about the vial, that sickening crash, the dissolved robots… he had to admit, if he were on his own, his top priority would have been chasing down what this thing was that had Eggman so scared. But even Sonic had to admit that right now, he had to depend on other people to get him close to the action, let alone stop anything; like it or not, they were his ticket to stopping the Doctor this time. Without Rouge and Shadow, he'd still be stuck at home, trying to read an empty book. He closed his eyes. Besides, if they found Eggman, he could tell them more about the vial, and that would kill two birds with one stone. He and Shadow could chase it down, save the day together, celebrate after. Yeah, he thought. That sounded good.

Biting his lip, Sonic tried to think of places along the coast where Eggman would go to lick his wounds after something literally blew up in his face. There were a few bases, but both he and Eggman knew they were under close government watch. He wouldn't have had time to build a new one, even if he did have his bots on hand. Eggman wasn't the type to have nondescript safe houses; they weren't lavish or exciting enough to satisfy his never ending boredom. Maybe he could have gone to one of the black markets, but even those were a long shot if he didn't have anything to trade with. He would have to go to some place where he wouldn't stand out too much, a place where lawlessness was unremarkable, a place where he could get money and resources to rebound after everything crashed down.

In a flash of insight, he found it. "Casinopolis," he said. "He's in Casinopolis." And as fast as he could manage, he propped himself back up and started hobbling back to the helicopter.


	5. Thirteen

**((AN: I love this time of year. The autumn chill, the Halloween decorations, hot chocolate practically running through my veins. It's very appropriate for this story, isn't it? But it's still got a ways to go before it's done - definitely not by Halloween, but maybe by Thanksgiving if I keep up the pace I'v been going.**

 **Content warnings for this chapter include mentions of abuse and parasite icky-ness.))**

* * *

They liked when it spread.

The stranger's name remained lost to them; neither of the two knew her before and therefore they could not remember her. She, herself, didn't remember either, and it remained lost in the fog of their minds. Names were so inconsequential, anyway. Ultimately, she was just another body. What use was a name when you are just another part of the same whole? She resisted them at first, even more fiercely than Amy had; she thrashed in their arms, trying to kick and bite them. Then she cried, angry tears spilling as she choked on the black crawling under her skin. There was so much Pain inside of her, and Sadness. It was useless struggling; after some time had passed, she too had felt calm. It all seemed so silly now. Everything was so much better once she became part of the fold.

The shelter only had ten beds, and nine of them were taken. They had spoken quickly with the owner about the people in the beds; she had explained that most were teenagers, running away from abusive homes. A few of them tossed and turned in their sleep, and as the blankets fell off of them they could see bruises on their throats, on their wrists, on their faces. They had to ask the woman a few more times what they were and how they got them, and the woman appeared sad when she talked about it. She explained that families and loved ones were usually responsible for the bruises, and that the bruises came after being hit. Why were they hit? They would ask. No good reason at all, she would reply. After a while the three of them fell silent. It confused them; weren't people all the same thing? Why would one person purposely harm another? It was confusing. Illogical. The place was filled with that abhorrent Sadness, the swirl of negative feelings permeating the air like a poison. The need for Sleep still stung in their minds, but they couldn't bear the idea of waiting to give the people here relief. So they didn't.

They had been outnumbered at first, with only the three of them. Worse still, the stranger was still being brought into the Purpose, and had none left to give to others. The solution, they realized, was to continue the way they had been going - one by one, while the others were Sleeping, they would give them the Purpose in small pieces. It may take longer that way, but there would be no active resistance; since Sleep could take a long time, it could combine and integrate with their blood and their Head before they became Awake, that unusual stubbornness of the uninitiated eradicated before it could even be aware of the new way things were. It worked well. Only a few of the people on the beds fought, but when pressed the people who already knew the Purpose found they could remember the basics of how to fight.

They didn't like fighting. The idea of causing harm to another body was like hurting one of their own; causing anything like the bruises they saw on the others felt uncomfortable, and eventually they felt the Pain of it themselves as the consciousness of the others was enveloped into their own. This, though, was the way of the current world, the broken world. It would be worth it for another to feel Pain for a brief time in exchange for what they were being given. They would fight, but only as much as they had to; soon, nobody would have to fight at all.

The last person to receive the Purpose in The Nest was the woman who ran the shelter. She had stepped out briefly, returning with a bag of food, when she had been surrounded by the shelter's inhabitants and its new visitor. She has been so kind to them, after all, and had been surrounded by that suffocating Sadness for far too long. The bodies grabbed her arms, her legs, her shoulders, her head… and one of the ones who had been sleeping got the privilege of giving her some of the Purpose. They all watched in a circle as the black goop crawled down her throat, which one of the bodies held open, and her eyes rolled back as it became part of her. They collectively got a rush of pleasure whenever they gave the Purpose to another. It was intoxicating even; if they had still managed not to know that this was the most Important thing to do, they would have happily given the Purpose to others just for the feeling they got when it was done. It coursed through their bodies, a sparkling electricity, filling them with a rush better than any drug, and they could also feel it as it spread through the newest body. But the best part was that though only one body got to give her the Purpose, they all felt the pleasure of it. He - or it - wasn't Silver after all. It was just confused when there was only one body, one set of knowledge, one set of senses to tap into. Silver was just the name of the one body, like Amy was the name of the other body, like some of the other bodies who had been sleeping. Before, a name was a sense of identity, a mark of real difference, but anymore, it felt like a casual label. They were one organism, connected in thought and desire; the names of the bodies were inconsequential, like "elbow" or "knee" were names of individual body parts. What mattered was the underlying connection…and it had no name. At least, not that they could remember. Maybe it would learn it eventually. It had plenty of time.

Thirteen bodies felt at peace. Thirteen bodies, and they ceased. Thirteen bodies went to Sleep.

* * *

Despite the sense of urgency they felt, the trio couldn't help but feel at peace as they flew into the night sky. Sometimes back at home they could see a few stars on especially clear nights, but what they were looking at now was on a whole other level. A blanket of stars enveloped them, filling the night sky in all directions and reflecting in the rippled ocean water beneath them. They sparkled out of of the deep blue, almost looking like waves, and Sonic looked at it all in awe. He tried picking out individual constellations at first, but after a while he realized that he much more enjoyed making his own stories out of the shapes of the stars. He grinned to himself, picturing the mythologies of his own mind as he imagined grand epics and journeys, valiant sword fights and slaying dragons, far off places and other times, possibilities both realistic and utterly fantastic. None of the stories were particularly coherent - just snippets of scenes, one battle, one kiss, one conversation before moving forward to the next - but he enjoyed them all the same. He wished he had a pen to write it all down, but at the same time, he wanted to be careful not to lose sight of that beautiful night sky.

As he traced the lines of stars with his fingertips, he hummed to himself. Maybe that was what the book was for, he thought. He had been complaining so much to Shadow about how much he didn't like the books that were lent to him - and a pit grew in his stomach as he realized how whiny and ungrateful that must have sounded - so Shadow gave him a blank book to write his own. It was a more plausible theory than any of his other ones so far; he could picture Shadow being the type to insist on a do it yourself approach, and what better way to force the matter than to leave him alone with nothing but some paper and pen? He felt the book in its bag, digging into the side of his leg. It was such a nice covering - a solid binding, with solid pages. He almost didn't want to write in it, since that would ruin it. But what use was a gift if it got pushed aside, never used, gathering dust? He was about to turn to Shadow and get him to confirm his theory when he got caught him off guard, his words stuck in his throat.

Shadow had been staring at him.

Not a glare, not analyzing, not intimidating. Just…looking at him. His eyes reflected the glints of starlight, but the constellations from before were the furthest thing from Sonic's mind. Instead, he noticed how complex the red of Shadow's eyes were, deeper near his pupils and fading in gradients to the outside. Maybe all eyes were like this and he never really noticed, but he hadn't been in such close proximity with someone before - at least, not someone he could look at from this close. Why was Shadow looking at him like that? Did he do something wrong? Is there something he was looking for?

Shadow blinked, and the spell was broken. Sonic shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "Yikes," he said, rubbing his neck and chuckling nervously. "I must be more tired than I thought. Got a little distracted there."

"By what?"

 _Your eyes._ A lump came up Sonic's throat. There was no way he could actually say that, he knew. That would be so awkward, and Shadow would just take him home. Even if it was true. And it's not like Shadow's eyes were anything special, even with their colors that seemed so rich even in the dark of night….

Thinking on the fly, he replied, "Well, the stars outside! It's like we're surrounded by them!" He forcibly broke eye contact and started swinging his arms around wildly. "Man, I don't get to see this kind of thing very often. I thought I saw a constellation I recognized behind you."

"Really? Which one?" Shadow's tone was not inquisitive at all - the challenge was back in it, and at that point, Sonic knew he got caught. He knew it was a lie. Sonic knew it was a lie. Strangely, though, Shadow didn't call him out on it. Instead, he only looked down, putting his hands together. He paused a second, then rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I dunno. I mean, now that I think about it, it's probably not that special to you. Every night must have been like this on the ARK, right? In fact, I bet it was even clearer than this. Stars are probably just normal, right?"

Shadow leaned forward. "That's not true," he muttered.

"What was that?"

"I said that's not true." Shadow looked up at the sky, the lights reflecting again. "The vastness of it all…the multitude… never gets old." He only moved a little, but it made the reflection of the stars in his eyes look like fireflies on a hot summer night. "I could live another fifty years, or another fifty centuries, and it would still be the same."

"What do you mean?"

"It's like… when you see a sunrise, or a feel a breeze. You can experience it a million times, but it's always new, always special." Shadow looked up, tilting his head over to his right. "I saw stars on the ARK, but that's all the more reason to find them fascinating…it's the complexity of nature, and the feeling of nostalgia."

Sonic was about to respond when the copter jolted, and he fell forward. The cast clattered loudly against the metal frame, and the bag holding Shadow's book fell open. Sonic moved quickly to hide it back away, but his hands started to shake.

"You're even clumsier than usual," Shadow said.

"I'm just so tired. Must be all the excitement after being cooped up for so long."

Shadow wrapped his arm around him, and all of Sonic's blood rushed to his face. "Then you should rest," he said, as casually as saying he should take a vitamin.

Sonic, however, could not be so casual. "Wha-what are you doing?" he said incredulously. He was hardly believing himself; normally he'd fight off the other hedgehog, but he only grew more tense at the touch.

"Lean on my shoulder," came the reply. That vibration again…. "I don't sleep much, but you do. You'll have to work late in Casinopolis tonight, so you had better rest now. We only have a few more hours left."

Sonic balked. How could he relax under circumstances like that?! He quick looked at Rouge, but she didn't even notice; her ears were covered by headphones, where she was getting comms from base, and she kept her eyes glued to her surroundings. He didn't want to admit how much he would like resting on his shoulder… this trip had already broken so many boundaries, and eventually they were going to be past the point of no return–

"Look in the upper right."

Sonic looked back. Shadow's left arm tightened around him, and his right pointed upward. "Those six stars there," he said, "are the Lyra. It's the harp Orpheus would use to play to Eurydice. When he died, he played his love songs to Hades in the underworld in exchange for having Eurydice returned to him. They were to leave the underworld together, but when he turned to look at her before they had fully left, she faded away like mist." Shadow put his arm down. "You have to trust others, and you can't look back. If you do, you are only causing your own downfall."

Sonic stopped. Shadow wore the same face he always did - straight, no clear emotion to it. But his voice had shaken. It was only a little, but Sonic was sure he didn't imagine it. "Do you miss her?" he asked, tentatively. He didn't need to clarify who - they both knew who he was referring to.

"Not as much as before," he said. "I thought I would never forgive the world for what happened to her…for taking her from me."

"I never understood how you could work for GUN after all of that. I don't know if I'd be strong enough."

"There are many ways to protect this world. To do what's right for it. This is mine."

Shadow closed his eyes, and Sonic could tell that he didn't want to talk any more about it. He settled in to Shadow's side, resting again the soft fur on his chest, and looked at the six stars. They were barely visible, but once he found them, he locked his gaze on them until his eyelids were too heavy to stay open. As he closed his eyes, he listened to the surroundings around him; the sound of the copter and the waves on the sea blended together, creating a smooth, calming drone. Somewhere in his imagination, Sonic could have sworn he heard the sound of a harp.


	6. Seventeen

**((AN: No content warnings for Amy and Silver's parts. Sonic and Shadow's part has some alcohol mentions and hints about sex, but nothing too crazy.))**

* * *

Amy's body woke from a loud buzzing noise. The Nest was empty other than her, but it was no surprise; through the other eyes, she knew they were walking through town, getting food, finding more people, and covering more ground. Already there were three more sets of vision than last night. She wished she hadn't been asleep when they were given the gift, but did not dwell on it; there would be plenty more to see and experience.

She wandered about the shelter, and the buzzing continued. Bending down, she found the source. It was a cell phone - her cell phone, she remembered - that had fallen under the bed. It wouldn't stop flashing, so she started pressing buttons to try to make it go away. Eventually, she heard a sound come through it - it sounded like talking. "Ames? Amy, are you there?"

She couldn't remember whose voice it was, but it was pressingly familiar…it felt strange to listen to a voice with no voice to connect it to. "Can you talk right now?" it said.

Now that she thought about it, that's what the man in the street was doing yesterday; he held the device up to his ear and talked into it. Memories of doing that rushed back to all of them, and she nodded. The metal felt cool against her skin. She said, "Yes, I can talk right now."

A small crackle came from the device. "Sorry to bother you, but you said you were going to look for Silver yesterday. I'm kind of worried about him… he doesn't do well when he's on his own for too long."

Amy thought back. Yesterday? She couldn't remember talking to anyone but Silver and the others at The Nest. It nagged at her, but she couldn't remember it. "I found Silver," she said into the phone, "and he's not alone."

"Wait, are you with him now? Why didn't you tell me that you found him?"

"I forgot."

"Amy… okay, well can you tell him to meet me downtown? I need to talk to him."

"Where is downtown?"

"You know, downtown Empire City? By the statue - oh, right, you don't live here. Can you tell me where you are now? I'll find you."

"We are in The Nest."

"The homeless shelter? Why are you there?"

"We needed to Sleep."

Silence came from the other line. Amy could feel the other bodies moving around, going outside, cleaning the building, finding food… she felt a shiver come down her spine as one found a person he recognized, giving her the Purpose. She couldn't help but let out a contented sigh, and a worried muttering sound came from the phone.

"…I don't know what's going on, but stay there," came the other voice. "We can talk once I get there. Okay?"

Finally, she remembered whose voice was coming through the phone. She would be happy to see Blaze. They had so much to share. "Okay. I will see you soon." She pressed the red button on the phone, then held it up to her mouth. It dissolved slowly like a hard candy, and she smiled. Metal…yes. That's what it needed. That's how it got bigger.

* * *

Across town, Silver wandered aimlessly. His body had been first to wake and leave the Nest, and he had carried a piece of food with him as he walked around town. The sticker on its side read that it was a peach. It tasted sweet. Silver liked sweet things, but such preferences were foolish now - food was only good for keeping his body and blood moving, nothing more. There was so much to do now. He could walk outside, try to retrieve his memories, work more to eradicate the Sadness, but he needed to know more in order to do any of those things. It would be a busy day.

Recognition came in waves as he saw signs and buildings on the street. Different types of food, technology, places sprang into his mind. At some point, a newspaper had blown into his face with the wind, and he spent nearly two hours reading it cover to cover, multiple times. He remembered how to read eventually - it was just like Talking, but with his eyes instead of his ears. Instead of sounds, there were letters. Instead of words spoken, words were read. Instead of sentences to listen to, phrases were recognized and pieced together in his mind. Unlike talking, though, he couldn't respond to the words on paper - they stayed the same, no matter how he tried to communicate with it.

What a difficult discovery that lead to.

The idea alone of a newspaper was strange - why would people need to write to each other when they could see everything anyone else could see, hear everything anyone else could hear, know things everyone else already knew - but then he remembered that most of the world didn't have that sense of connection that he had with the others at The Nest. How terrible it must be, he thought - and how terrible it felt in retrospect - to be so alone. Frightened. Confused. Upset.

What was actually written in the newspaper made his feelings of pity more pronounced. Crimes between people took up most of the space, between advertisements and announcements. Pictures of people screaming at each other as buildings around them collapsed. An article about businesses throwing away food when they couldn't sell it, even though they knew other people were starving. One group of people killing another group of people based on arbitrary distinctions of space. The worst of the world literally lay at his fingertips, and after his second read through - the only one where he felt he really knew what it was saying - his hands shook. His fingers, now sticky with juice and black with ink, ran through his quills. He paid no attention to the dark streaks he was making, instead lost in thought. Things couldn't continue this way. Separation was tearing the world apart. Everyone needed to be brought together. Everyone needed to see the truth.

The peach he had been eating was now reduced to just a little pulp around a hard sphere. Silver rolled the object around in his hands, feeling its grooves in his fingers. A seed, the word was. This could be buried and eventually become a plant, something inside him said, making more peaches, making more plants… but only with the right care and conditions. The knowledge sprang to mind, but it didn't make sense. Why have the pulp to begin with, then? Why surround the seed with something sweet, something that could be eaten? It felt so unnecessary

He kept walking, not paying much attention to his surroundings, and the buildings became smaller and more spread out. He was close to the edge of town now, near the forest he had come from yesterday. A large sign - billboard, right, those ones were called billboards - stood erect, only overshadowed by the tallest of the trees. A large picture of a can of soup, well decorated and lit - but it was covered with drawings, the ink reminding Silver of how his own hands looked. Though he knew he had been here several times - although this wasn't where he was from, and for the life of him he couldn't remember where he was from, but now he was from The Nest, so it couldn't be that important - he could never remember getting a can like that. It was foolish, he thought. Showing that something was there wasn't enough to make people want it. It was merely another object, completely irrelevant. Discarded quickly in people's minds, including his.

As he dropped the peach pit on the ground, he stopped and stared at it. Perhaps, he thought, the peach was surrounded by sweet pulp because on its own, it couldn't move or take root in new places. Even if it rolled from the tree, it could only go so far… and one sickness, one fire, could destroy the whole bunch. Creatures of blood like him, though… they could take it anywhere, carry it miles away, even put it in places peaches hadn't grown before. Safety was in distance and variety, not predictability and solitude. Creatures of blood, though, wouldn't move the pits unless it benefitted them. The fruit made itself so both the peach and the one that could move would benefit, a bizarre self-sacrificing partnership. The sweetness of it lingered in his mouth. He rolled his tongue around and smiled. That was best way, the one nature itself had chosen. If it felt good, if it seemed like something that would make life better, people would do anything….

He felt the Purpose stir inside him, and he shivered in pleasure as he saw through another set of eyes. As if prodded, he started to move again. Too much time had been wasted. He had to keep going.

* * *

The city had woken Sonic long before the group actually landed; unlike the stars, the lights of Casinopolis were overwhelming. It was a wonder anyone could ever sleep here in the city known for its games, its shows, and its vulgarity. It was truly the mark of sapient innovation that there was an entire town devoted to recreation and depraved actions, and that in it were so many people that anyone - hero, villain, or in between - could slip by unnoticed. A fact remembered he used to take advantage of, though he pushed the memories out of his head.

It had been a long time since he last came here. He was a much bigger celebrity now, and while he didn't care about what people thought about him for his own sake, he'd hate for some of the things he did here to come to light. There were a lot of people that looked up to him, kids especially. Even being here was risky; what if he was recognized, or someone sent a picture to the press?

He exhaled. He'd cross that bridge if he ever came to it.

Sonic dodged taxis and cigarette smoke as he maneuvered the winding roads. Rouge seemed comfortable here - Sonic wouldn't be surprised if she was a frequent visitor, given her penchant for shiny things and high risk ventures - but Shadow looked perturbed. The bulk of people and harsh lights visibly irritated him, and Rouge had to hold him back more than once from snapping at people just going about their 'business.' "Remind me again why you are leading the way?" he had said, nearly launching a Chaos Spear at a particularly unruly driver.

"I'm the resident expert here, remember? Robuttnik isn't exactly going to hang out at the biggest casino in town, now that he doesn't own it. 'Sides, I know a guy who can point us in the right direction."

Rouge smirked, ignoring whistles from strangers on the street. "I wouldn't expect you to be quite so…acquainted with a place like this, Blue. Who knew you were even part of this scene?"

Sonic shrugged a little. "Not anymore. And it's not something I want to advertise, you know?"

"Gambled?"

"Maybe a little."

"Drinking? Drugs?"

"Never drugs, but I drank some. It almost got me in some trouble too."

Shadow raised an eye ridge. "You got drunk?"

Sonic scoffed. "I was young and stupid. Wasn't really used to fighting the Doctor yet - still learning how to dodge sharp metal and fire and, ugh, drowning. When you think you might die any day, you want to try everything at least once. Wasn't until my first 'night in Casinopolis' that I realized that being careless with that stuff was leading me down a bad road, and I stopped coming here."

"What did you do, exactly?"

Sonic's gaze darkened, just a little, and he turned his head to focus on the path. The memory of it stuck in his head - drinks with a little more alcohol than he thought, a smooth talking stranger, green and blue fur scattered about the sheets the next day when he woke up alone…. He grimaced. He didn't want to distract himself with regret over things that happened a long time ago, but the whole thing still felt dirty and shameful to him. That morning had been a wake up call for him in so many ways, both good any bad. "Let's just say, I'm happy that what happens here, stays here."

Shadow grimaced, but said nothing more. As they kept walking, he avoided eye contact with Sonic, and the blue one felt a pang in his chest. _Is it just me,_ Sonic thought, _or does he seem upset I'm not telling him about it?_ He couldn't get a good look at the dark hedgehog's face, and his body language was hard to read. After stumbling from a crutch in a divot he didn't quire see, Sonic shook his head, trying to dispel the thought. _Well, if he is, he can just deal with it. No place like here to keep your cards close to your chest, right?_ _Besides, I'm sure he's keeping much worse secrets from me. Right?_

The group turned a corner, and Sonic stopped in front of a hole in the wall bar. Not only was it not well lit like the others in town, but even the lights it did have were off. This didn't deter Sonic, though, as he knocked on the door with a crutch - an intricate rhythm, obviously practiced several times. Shadow and Rouge exchanged a look as they heard several locked on the door being fussed with, metal slideing in its spots, until the door opened a crack. A weasel, wearing a broad brimmed hat, looked through the opening.

"I changed the knock."

"And yet, you still answer the door."

"You know I don't get involved in shit like this, Sonic. What the hell are you thinking, bringing federal agents into my bar?"

"It's been a long time, Nack. Wouldn't a 'hello, good to see you man' be better?"

"Maybe, if you weren't trying to scare away my clientele."

"Bar looks pretty empty to me. Almost looks like you've closed down."

"Like I'd ever close down. What'd you do to your leg?"

"I slipped while running."

"Wouldn't be the first time. What, didn't get it saving cats from trees or some other nonsense you do these days?"

"Aren't you the one who said things weren't so black and white? Now, are you gonna let me in, or do I have to break your door?"

The weasel paused. The door slammed shut, and the three of them thought it might be the end of it until they heard the chain sliding off. The door slid back open, and he ushered the group of them inside. Nack clapped his hand on Sonic's shoulder, directing him to a stool at the bar before he himself went behind it, taking out two glasses. His smile was large and crooked, like a crazed uncle.

"Chaos, Sonic, you've grown! How old are you now? Can you even legally drink?"

"Oh, so now you care about if it's legal?" Sonic groused. Shadow and Rouge looked at him strangely and he let them. He hadn't exactly talked about his old private life with them - it never came up - so he knew they were wondering where this was coming from. He turned his head to them and mouthed the words 'trust me.' "Twenty," he said. "My birthday was a few months ago."

"Well, you'll forgive me. I didn't send you a card."

"Not like I sent you one, either. I don't even know when your birthday is."

"Every night is your birthday around here. Least, that's how I get free drinks. Speaking of which…." The weasel took his place at the bar, pouring a deep brown liquid into a glass before sliding it across the table.

"Thanks, man, but I'm good."

"What, you sober now?"

"You know what happened last time," Sonic said, his voice taking a stern tone that said, _and you better not share it._

"Yeah, that was a real riot," he said. He filled a new glass with water and passed it across. Sonic started drinking out of it in big gulps. "Still talk to him at all?" Nack asked.

"Psh, I've got better things to do."

"I'll say. Who is the guy with the stripes, anyway?"

Sonic choked, nearly spitting all his water out. He looked over at Shadow, worried. Would he be angry? Shadow's face betrayed no emotion, but the insinuation of it–

"Shadow. Shadow the Hedgehog," he said, as cordially as Sonic had ever heard him speak.

"And the bat?"

"Rouge."

Nack looked at the two of them, then started to polish another glass. "Some weird friends you got there Sonic. But something tells me you didn't come here to reminisce on old times if you brought them along."

Sonic finished his water, placing it back on the bar. "We're hunting down Doctor Eggman. We know he's been in the city, and you know exactly where."

Nack rolled his eyes. "You're reaching so hard, your arms are gonna fall off."

"No, I don't think I am. You know this town better than anyone, and Eggman's rebuilding. He's gonna need a lot of materials, legal and not so legal - and nobody makes a deal here that you don't know about, right?"

The weasel smiled. "That's true," he said, his eyes practically glinting, "but even if he was here, why would I tell you where he is? My business relies on me being neutral. If I help the feds, nobody would come here anymore?"

"Because it'll be a gamble. Nobody stays in Casinopolis too long if they don't like to bet. You can even pick the game."

"What's the wager?"

"If I win, you tell me where the Doctor is hiding. Nobody would need to know it came from you, but I am going to take him in."

"And what do I get if I win?"

Sonic thought for a minute. "One super sonic delivery to anyone, any parcel, no questions asked."

Nack crossed his arms. "Really? You know what my 'deliveries' tend to be. Not stuff a hero should be caught with."

"Then I won't get caught, will I?"

Nack drummed his fingers on the bar, thinking it over. "Seven deliveries," he replied.

"Two."

"Five."

"Three."

"Three, and I get to tell people I beat you in a fight. Really helps keep my rep with the customers."

"Nobody would ever believe you."

"But you won't say otherwise. That's my offer."

Sonic stopped in mock thought before grinning and offering his hand. The weasel took it, and the two shared a shake so strong it could break fingers. "Alright, now we're getting somewhere! So what's the contest?"

"Shooting," the weasel said, reaching under the counter and pulling out two pistols. "We'll do it out back, on targets. Best three shots win."

Sonic looked in disgust at the pistol like it was a dead animal. "You know I don't use guns."

"Like the empty barrels are gonna feel pain!"

Sonic grimaced. The truth was, not only did Sonic hate the idea of guns - he hated the idea of attacks that could actually kill people - he also was a terrible shot. He'd only shot a gun a few times, under duress, and it had completely missed its target. Sonic picked up the pistol and weighed in in his hands. _Not to mention I can barely balance right now,_ he thought. _The kickback alone would knock me down. I don't even know if I could do three shots._

Suddenly, he felt the pistol being taken from his hand. Shadow held it firmly, and it looked familiar in his hands. "I think what he means is, it wouldn't be fun for you to compete against an amateur," Shadow said. Sonic looked at him with wide eyes - what was he doing? This wasn't Shadow's turf, and he didn't know this guy. But Shadow's eyes had that confidence in them, the one that dared anyone to question his actions. Sonic's mouth stayed shut.

"A shooting contest with Sonic would be boring," Shadow continued. "Maybe it would be more of a challenge to you to go against someone who wields guns as part of his job. Unless you're also a bad shot," he said, smirking.

Nack looked at Sonic, then Shadow, then back at Sonic again. "What is it with you and the guys who look like you, huh? Narcissism at its finest."

Shadow crossed his arms, and Sonic widened his eyes in panic. "What do you mean by that?" Shadow asked. Nack didn't miss Sonic's reaction and let out a full bellied laugh.

"Chaos, he doesn't even know, does he?"

Sonic's face went beet red. _And you better not tell him!_ he thought, almost wanting to pull Nack aside and call the whole thing off. "I don't know what?" Shadow replied. Sonic felt dizzy. He could grab Shadow's hand, go as fast as he could out of there, make up an emergency somewhere else. They could find Eggman another way - if Shadow knew what had happened here, he would die of embarrassment, he was pretty sure.

Luckily, Nack knew better than to tell people's secrets. "Never mind, I'm sure you'll know soon enough. Sure, I'll let you proxy, but there's something you gotta know about me first," he said.

"And what is that?"

His teeth shone again in the dim lights of the bar. "I go by another name in this town," he said. He grabbed the glass he had given to Sonic earlier and downed its contents in one go. The glass got slammed on the table, and his eyes were wild with fire. "Fang the Sniper. Best shot in the…well, the anywhere. Still up for it, gloomy?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes, and Sonic felt his heart beat faster. "Bring it on."

* * *

 **((AN: In case you're concerned about Nack/Fang being out of character, I'd just like to point out two things. One, I'm mostly working off the games universe, where Nack is basically just an egotistical greedy bastard with no dialog who shows up in Casinos for some reason, instead of the comics universe where he's more developed. Two, I'm not a huge fan of putting fan characters in my stories, including my own, so a relatively blank slate is refreshing. If this unnecessarily draws you out of the story, let me know - I won't rewrite this and the next chapter, but I can avoid doing stuff like this later.))**


	7. Twenty Nine

**((AN: Silver and Amy's part has some parasite stuff in it again. Sonic and Shadow's part has guns.))**

* * *

Silver returned to The Nest just in time to see a face he recognized. Blaze… that was the name of the cat. Yes. He had known her before. He couldn't see through her eyes, he realized, and instantly felt the stirring inside of him. Before he could do anything, though, she fixed her eyes on him and started heading his way.

"Silver!" she exclaimed. "You said you were going to meet me at noon yesterday! Why are you here, of all places?"

Silver looked at her, puzzled by her question. "I needed to Sleep."

She cocked her head to the side. "That's what Amy said too, but why didn't you go home? And who sleeps in the middle of the day?"

"Home?" he asked. "I didn't know where to Sleep. The woman took me here."

Silver started to walk inside, grabbing Blaze's arm and taking her with him. She seemed confused - Silver normally wasn't so forceful - but Silver didn't know anything was wrong. "What woman?"

"She is near the post office now," he said. "She was Sleeping on a park bench."

"Are you okay?"

"Amy said I had a Head injury. I don't think that's true."

"A head - Silver, we need to take you to the hospital!"

Silver blinked, remembering the prior day's events. "That's what Amy said." He shivered again - the happiness was more frequent, now that there were more of them to spread the black. He longed for the day when people were given the Purpose so often, he would always feel the pleasure. It would be a continuous wave, carrying him and the others forward, a constant reward for their…no, not a reward. You don't get rewarded for things you are made to do. A reminder. A constant reminder of their place in the world. "We can go later. There is something we need to do now."

"What–"

The door to The Nest creaked open. Amy stood up perfectly straight in the hallway, like a mannequin in a shop window. For some reason, Blaze found it unnerving. "Blaze," she said, "come inside. We need to show you something."

"No!" Blaze clutched the sleeves of her coat. It didn't make sense - her fur was standing on end, but she wasn't in any danger. What she was was frustrated, almost angry. She looked at Silver first. "You didn't come when you said you would. You didn't even call me! And you–" she said, looking at Amy, "You said you would tell me when you found him, and you didn't! So what I want to know, before I take another step anywhere, is why you two decided it would be a better idea to sleep in a homeless shelter - when you're not homeless, I might add – when I was concerned that both of you were okay!"

The two of them stayed still, blinking. "Are you Sad?" they asked, this time in unison.

"No, I'm angry! And you're freaking me out!" The fabric started to leave imprints in her fingers - she could almost smell it starting to scorch. "You know what, forget it. I'm going home. This is all too weird, and I don't have time for it."

Amy began to speak when she suddenly fell to the ground. Her breathing became heavy and labored, like she was giving birth. A smile came on her face. "Blaze," she said, "you need to know…you don't need to be angry anymo–"

Her words were interrupted with her own heaving. Blaze's eyes widened as Amy seemingly drooled, then fully threw up on the front steps of The Nest. Her body shook with the effort of it, like she was overwhelmed from the inside. "Oh Chaos, you really are sick! Are you both – no, we need to get you to a hospital. That's not normal!"

"It is coming," Silver said, ignoring her. "It needs you, Blaze, or it will not survive."

She had tried to look away from the pool of sick in the street - that's disgusting, and there was no real reason for it - but she noticed that it didn't look right, even for what it was. She had heard of people vomiting blood when things were seriously wrong, or even things that looked like coffee grounds. But this was something else. It was a deep black, almost metallic looking, and it _moved._ On its _own._

That's messed up.

What's worse, Amy was touching it. It was – oh Chaos, it was crawling up her arm! She looked at it like it was a pet garter snake, not something that came out of her. Blaze had to stop herself from throwing up too from pure disgust. "It's for you, Blaze," Amy told her. Her lazy smile unnerved Blaze as she 'pet' the black goop, now pooling in the center of her hand. "So many are scared at first, but there's no use in fighting it. Can't you see how happy we are? Can't you see how much better it is?"

Blaze started to back away, but Silver grabbed her by the shoulders. Now she was really starting to panic. "Let go of me!"

Amy took her hand, covered in the goop, and placed it on Blaze's chest. Her half lidded eyes told Blaze she didn't care what she was saying. "You have no idea how good it feels, Blaze. We can feel it as it crawls inside of you… as it goes into your warm, pulsating blood… as it makes your mind better, more efficient, more connected. It's perfect, Blaze. It's everything."

Blaze turned her head, and sure enough, Silver had the same expression on his own face. Her heart felt like it was pounding out of her chest as she felt the goop squirm, wriggling up her body.

 _I'm sorry, you two. I have no choice._

With hot hands, she touched Silver's arms first. He screamed, immediately letting Blaze go as it burned him. With the space, she tucked down, giving Amy a jab to the solar plexus and using a leg sweep to bring her to the ground. She had caught them by surprise (or maybe they were just that out of sorts); the two of them spiraled in on themselves, focusing on their pain, while she tried to push off the black goop. It only stuck to her, not slowing at all. She could only think of one more thing to do, and it was going to hurt.

The fire in her palms raged, and she turned it on her own chest. The pain of it scorching her burned and festered. She held back tears, but some spilled out anyway. It was effective, though - the black thing fizzed and hissed as it burned, falling off of her in a dead lump and dropping to the street. Blaze felt relieved - she could fight it off, and she had – but Silver and Amy looked visibly distraught. Before the two caught hold of their senses, she started to run as fast as her legs could carry her. She didn't dare look back to see if they were following her, instead sprinting down the road until she was sure she had lost them. The two thought to look after her until they noticed something from a pair of eyes further down the street. It was small, very small, but a tiny piece of the Purpose still moved on her shoulder.

They smiled. It may be slower, but it was only a matter of time until she understood. Blaze would be part of them soon. She would think the same things they did, feel what they feel, want what they want - there was no escaping it, not now. Besides, their eyes were everywhere. She couldn't be hidden for long.

The two stepped side by side. She had been right about one thing, though. They should go to the hospital. They could do so much to help people there.

* * *

Nack got the barrels set up in the back, drawing targets on a few and lining them up just right. He looked satisfied with himself, a childlike happiness showing itself in each action. Sonic and Shadow, however, were far away from the point, and much less cheery.

"I still don't understand it," Shadow said. "You're always the one who is telling people to do the right thing. This…betting, illegal trades, everything… it doesn't seem like you."

Sonic shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not exactly a saint, Shadow. I've broken laws before to get things done. Broken buildings, cars…."

"Those are all collateral damage. _This_ is purposeful and manipulative, and it's not something I thought you capable of doing."

Sonic flinched. "Are you saying I made the wrong call?"

"I would have done the same. I just–"

"Nothing is illegal about this if you win, right?"

Shadow grimaced. "That's not the point–"

"And you are going to win, right?"

Shadow stopped, then scoffed. "Like there's any doubt I'll win. But–"

"Then you don't have to worry about it! You'll do great, I know it."

Shadow loaded the pistol, aiming it at the ground. Even though it wasn't actually his, it looked like it fit perfectly in his hands. "Don't get me wrong. It's not a judgement. It's only…unexpected, if I had to choose a word."

"Well, maybe you know less about me than you thought."

Shadow looked up, focusing on the new targets on the barrels. It was as if the only thing stopping him from aiming and firing was Nack - and even then, only barely. "Is that so?" he asked, his voice suddenly dry. "And what do I need to know about you, Sonic? Is there something you want to tell me?"

The question shouldn't have caught Sonic off guard, but it did. The truth of it was, there were so many things he wanted to say, but he didn't know where to start. He was never tongue tied before - if anything, it was hard to get him to shut up - but there were simply too many things sticking in his throat. "I–"

He was interrupted by banging metal and Nack clamoring over the barrels. "Alright, so here's the rules!" Nack said, obviously excited. "Each pistol holds five bullets, and each marksman his own barrel. Starting line from back here to the barrels is about…what do you think that is, about 25 yards? All shots are fired from concealment in the span of five seconds. Best three shots, closest to the center of the target, win. If your gun jams or misfires…well, that's your own tough luck. Sound good, stripes?"

Shadow scowled. "Child's play. Let's go. You first."

Nack grinned, and fired. The shots went wicked fast, smoke drifting upwards from the tip seconds after the last. The barrel cracked loudly, and dust drifted in the air. He lifted the tip towards his mouth and blew the smoke off the top. "Told you I was the best," he huffed, his chest puffed out with pride.

The dust settled, and a pit sunk in Sonic's stomach. All five shots hit the barrel - one on the outer most ring, two on the middle, and two just barely off dead center. "No way," he said, jaw gaping open. He knew Nack was good, but had no idea he was that good.

"Fang the Sniper gets it again! I'd like to see you beat that - or, you know, try."

Shadow huffed. "Child's play."

"Really? Then go ahead. Shoot."

Shadow looked at the barrel with a cool gaze, his fingers twitching. The wind blew past, carrying a few colored leaves from some far off, unseen tree, and Shadow waited. He looked calm…focused…strong….

In a flurry of motion, he whipped out the pistol. The shots were so close together, Sonic couldn't even count them.

More dust picked up in the back alley, as though even more was displaced then when Nack shot. Shadow turned around, replacing the pistol at his side. Oddly enough, he didn't let go of it, instead keeping it lightly in his fingers. As he rolled his shoulders back, Sonic stared. Why was Shadow looking so nonplussed about all this?

When Sonic saw the result of the shots, everything froze. Forget skipping a beat - Sonic was pretty sure his heart stopped.

There were only three holes in the barrel - one dead center and two in the middle ring. Technically, they were better shots overall, but it didn't matter - the contest was the best three shots, and Shadow's were further away than Nack's. Sonic balked. He didn't think Shadow would actually lose, or even that he could miss. But, he realized as a lump came up his throat, he missed twice. He felt sick, starting to panic.

Sonic turned towards the dark hedgehog and whispered, "This isn't good, Shads. I was bluffing when I said I was fine doing deliveries for this guy - I can't be involved in stuff like that!"

Shadow curled his mouth into a smug grin. "Oh really. Than it's a good thing that you won't have to."

"Yes I do! I always keep my word, Shadow. Even if my word was stupid. If he won, then I said I'd do it!"

"And who says he won?"

"Are you serious? What are you even talking about."

Shadow turned to both Nack and Sonic - Nack had noticed the holes as well, and looked like he was about to dance for the joy of winning. Shadow's voice grew louder, more authoritative. "I suggest you make your way to the barrel and take a look for yourself."

Nack snorted. "It looks pretty clear that you lost, stripes. Why don't you lose like a real sportsman?"

"I'm not a sportsman, and if I lost, then nothing will change once you walk over there. Take a look."

The other hedgehog and the weasel went over, hobbling down the way. With a grimace, he realized Nack was moving faster than he was now. Nack! Who didn't even have super speed! The sooner he could get this damn cast off and finish healing up, the better. He heard the other gasp as he got to the barrel, and the blood drained from his face. "Impossible…" he heard him mutter, a little venom in his voice but mostly toneless with disbelief.

He made it forward and gasped.

The hole in the perfect center didn't have one bullet wedged in it, but two so close together that they shared the same space. It was the shooting equivalent of a Robin Hood - if one bullet could have split the other, it would have done it. Impossible was right… that shot was damn near god like, Ultimate Lifeform or no. And on a quickdraw, too… how the heck did he pull something like that off? It was unreal!

Nack, after composing himself, turned around. He had his grin back on his face, but Sonic knew this one well - it was fake, plastered on for shows of false confidence. "Alright, you win, gloomy," he said. "The Doctor's on that place on fifth street - you know, the one where I used to hang out, with the card suits all lit up? He'll be in one of the back rooms - I'm sure the bartender will tell you which one with a little… _persuasion_. You two can get creative, right?"

Shadow nodded, then turned to Sonic. "Let's go," he said. "The sooner we take him in, the sooner this farce is over."

Sonic blinked, then nodded himself. He hadn't expected this to go so smoothly - they didn't even have to fight anyone! And though he was glad this was almost over, and he only had a little ways to go, he felt a small twinge of disappointment when he realized his excuse to hang around Shadow, to get out of the house, to do something more than sit away and read books, was ending. It wasn't anyone's fault, and he tried to dismiss the thought. Eggman was getting put away, where he couldn't hurt anyone. That had to be the most important.

As Shadow turned to walk away, Nack called out after him. "You know, at least I could hit the barrel all five times. Even with a shot like that, you're still missing one. I think that makes me better overall."

It was Shadow's turn to bear his confidence, only his own look was genuine. "I didn't miss the fifth shot."

"Really? Then where did it go, smart guy?"

With a rush of air, Shadow moved quickly to lift the gun and point it at Nack. It was cocked, its barrel pointed right in the weasel's face, and there was no doubt that if he pulled the trigger Nack would be a dead man. "Saved it for Plan B."

A few moments passed in dead silence. Suddenly, Nack burst into laughter. "Fucking Chaos, Sonic, you've got one hell of a guy with you. Dude's crazy!" He bent over, clutching his stomach. Sonic almost questioned it - being held at gunpoint isn't normally funny, and he was going to tear Shadow a new one for pulling this little stunt - but then again, neither Shadow nor Nack were conventional guys. "Aw hell, you know what? You can keep the pistol. Use that bullet for something better than me, you know?"

"Are you sure?" he said, putting it down. "It's a nice model."

"And that's why I've got plenty of my own. If you stick around blue, here, you'll need all the protection you can get. Think of it as a souvenir from my little establishment."

Shadow placed the gun at his side, muttered a "thank you," and walked away. Sonic was about to follow him when Nack grabbed him by the arm.

"You know, Sonic," he said, "Scourge is back in town." Sonic's blood went cold - there was no way this was happening - but Nack kept going "He might even be with Eggman - who knows what he's into these days?"

"I…I see."

"Thought I'd give you a heads up. Is that going to be a problem for you and your new guy?"

He paused. The air almost felt thicker, somehow. "He's not my guy."

"But you want him to be. Come on. Tell me you haven't thought about it."

Sonic swallowed. "I…I haven't."

"You've never been good at lying."

"Because I don't have to. I'm not… he's not my guy. He's _a_ guy. That I happen to know. And I'm helping him out with keeping the world safe from another disaster. Even if I – no, there's no time for anything like that."

"Still doesn't answer my question. Like it or not, that green doppelgänger of yours is likely going to show up, and even though I have less than a smidgen of tact, he has even less than me. Are you going to be okay with that?"

Sonic didn't want to give Nack the satisfaction of a moment's hesitation but he couldn't help but think about it. There were parts of his life that he kept hidden away, and for good reason. Scourge was years ago, but he could only imagine what would happen when he saw him again. Would Scourge divulge all the dirty details of what happened that one night? Would his reputation be hopelessly tarnished? How would Shadow feel when he knew the truth of the things that Sonic had done?

Worst of all, would Sonic feel a need to turn back?

He grimaced. None of these thoughts were going to help him, and besides, he might now even be there. He resolved not to think about it, and if he saw him there…well, he'd cross that bridge when he same to it. Instead, Sonic planted his feet to try to hide the shaking and tried with all his might to keep eye contact with Nack. "N-nah. It's cool. Maybe I'll even use that to my advantage, right? Anything to get the Doctor taken in." _And help Shadow. And save the world._

Nack coughed, sitting back on the ground. "You really are a hero now, aren't you kid?"

"Just a guy who knows what he wants."

"Then take my advice, as someone who's known you longer than I suspect either of them had." The weasel took a bullet's casing out of the barrel, turning it back and forth in his fingers before putting it in Sonic's hand. Sonic looked at the shriveled metal, half wanting to discard it and half wanting to keep it. He did the latter, tucking it under his fingers, and Nack tipped his hat. "Don't throw away your shot."

Sonic nodded and, with all the speed he could muster, ran away from the scene.

* * *

 **((AN: I hope you all are still liking the story. I may be putting my Nanowrimo efforts into it this year, or at least to stories in general…it feels really good to be in the swing of writing regularly again.**

 **Speaking of which, if any of you are fans of We Know The Devil, there will be a story on my account for it on Halloween. Spooky. And if you're not a fan, that's fine too - this story isn't going anywhere.))**


	8. Forty eight

**((CW: Blaze's part just has parasite stuff. Sonic and Shadow's part has some cursing and frank discussions of sex.))**

* * *

Blaze kept running. Her legs stung with exertion, her chest felt like it was stabbed with a million needles, but she couldn't stop. No way. If she stopped, she'd be caught. If she was caught, she'd be cornered. If she was cornered, they'd stick her with that black goop. And then….

She realized she had no idea what the black goop actually was. She didn't care. Her instincts told her it was no good, so it was no good, and she'd fight against it like any other enemy.

Her stomach began to hurt, and she knew she couldn't make it much further. Looking behind her, she didn't see Amy or Silver anywhere…maybe she'd lost them? She wasn't fast, but neither were they…and if Silver was really set on stopping her, he would have used his psychokinesis on her.

Come to think of it, why hadn't he used it back there? Blaze was stronger than Silver, and both of them knew it, so why did he hold her back with brute force?

She pulled out her cell, tapping at the screen frantically as she tried to call Sonic. He'd know what to do, she thought. He always found a way to help out his friends - but when she only got voicemail, she cursed under her breath. Of all the times to be incommunicado. "Sonic, it's Blaze. You have to get to Empire City right away. Something's wrong with Amy and Silver. They've got this…thing. I don't know how to describe it, it's–"

She felt something twinge in her skull, and she dropped the phone.

It all seemed so silly to her now. She had felt so worried and anxious even just a few minutes ago, but it had immediately faded away. It almost felt like when she was on some kind of drug, but that was crazy - she never put herself on anything. It was more like…she realized how strange it was to be scared of something, just because you didn't know what it was. It was true, Amy and Silver were acting really weird, but that didn't mean they were acting worse. In fact, they seemed pretty satisfied with themselves. Maybe it's not something that she would have chosen for herself, but if they were happy….

The image of the black goop came back to her. The visceral feeling of it crawling on her made her feel nauseous.

It's gotten to me, she realized. That horrible, disgusting, perfect, beautiful thing has gotten in my head.

She wanted to think about something else.

The sunlight poked around the side of the alleyway, and for some reason, the thought that Amy and Silver would still be after her slipped from her mind. With baby steps, she wandered out of the tunnel, letting her arms dangle at her sides. She looked around her with a strange curiosity. She had walked through this town so many times, but now it was as if she was seeing through new eyes. The buildings were dark and familiar, touching something in her mind but not quite registering. Recognition? Some inner imperative? She'd think of it eventually, but right now, she just wanted to keep moving. As she wandered in circles, she trailed her hand on the walls and felt the rough grooves of brick, looking outward into the street. About half of the others on the street had the same dazed, peaceful look that she was sure she wore now. Their movements were clean and precise, without even one bumping into another. If it were even a few hours ago, that would have struck her as bizarre - Empire City was a bustling town, filled with an eclectic mix of people - but now, this seemed more logical. Why would anyone interfere with anyone else? They all had the same goals, after all.

She was lost, she realized. She didn't care about that. It was inside her head. She didn't care about that either. And she…liked it? Yes, she liked it. This is what she's supposed to feel. This is how she's supposed to be. It squirmed inside of her like warm oatmeal with a spoon, and she realized why Amy had looked so lovingly at the black. If she only had a little inside of her and it felt this good, imagine what it would have been like to have so much of it inside her, integrating with her systems, coursing through her blood and making her feel so good in her Head. If she'd only known, she wouldn't have destroyed it so callously. A twinge of something like regret came through her, thinking of how much of the black was wasted in her prior haste. How it had twitched and shrunk under her heat. How it had fallen to the ground, disconnected, limp, isolated. Sadness, but not for long, struck in her head. It was past. She had so much to do now that she was part of….

Part of what, exactly?

She stopped. When she stopped fighting it, her body flooded with sensation. Her skin itched from the inside, like a warm buzz, but Blaze thought it felt great. She let herself close her eyes and breath deeper, riding the waves inside of her blood and the pressure on her mind. Her head throbbed with her heartbeat, and something wonderful was growing inside of it. Other sets of vision, other sounds, other textures, other bodies came into her head one at a time like lights turning on in a house. If only she realized it could have been like this before! Like a web, so could feel how she connected to everyone else. How she was never alone, never had to fear anyone else. Everything inside of her sparkled. This is home, she realized. This is Home.

Turning, she saw the library. She couldn't remember what a library was, but when she saw a group of children go inside, she knew she had to follow. There were people in there…and books. Books that she could read. And even though she knew everything the other bodies knew and felt everything that the other bodies felt, there was so much more behind this haze in her head that she couldn't quite get at. Maybe if she looked through what was inside, she would remember what she had lost. Maybe something in there would help her know where she was. Maybe she could unlock useful knowledge that would help them all move forward.

But there was something else she had to do first.

* * *

"I still think it's a bad idea to have you here."

Sonic, Shadow, and Rouge met in front of the spot preparing to blast their way in. The bartender, for one, took kindly to Rouge's advancements - while she left it in no uncertain terms that she would be doing absolutely nothing with him after the three of them finished their business in his secretive back room, something about the way she walked, moved, and spoke to him made him want to do her favors. Call her a flirt, or a tease, or even a seductress, but the fact of it was that Rouge knew how to take advantage of dimwitted guys who were only after one thing. Everything had been moving so smoothly, too. The bar was full of people, but they were all so drunk they hardly noticed the famed pair of hedgehogs, waiting in the corner while Rouge worked. He was tucked away, and luckily, barkeep had a spare key. And there were only two guys in there, he said. Easily dealt with. Piece of cake.

But now that they were in front of the door, Shadow stood by and got cold feet? Rouge, for one, was not having it. Not after all her effort.

"And you were outvoted by both of us, so shut it!" she hissed. "You're going to get us noticed, and I for one want to take care of this quickly so I can go home!"

Shadow screwed his face into an angry expression, giving Sonic a pointed look before turning to Rouge and whispering. "Sonic can't get out of here in time if he has to run, and I for one am not going to carry him out. What if the Doctor holds him hostage, or he gets stuck? He is only putting himself, and the mission, in danger."

"And like I said earlier, if he wants to be here, then you of all people aren't going to stop him. Do you want to be here, Sonic?"

Sonic flashed a thumbs up, and Shadow rolled his eyes. "You talk like Sonic is some paragon of good judgement." He hunched forward, as though he wanted to stare through the door.

"Then he'll be quiet and follow orders, and we'll all be okay. Capisce? Now brace yourselves. We're going to go in."

Rouge grabbed her ill gotten key and slowly, deliberately, put it in the lock and twisted. The group of three knocked the door open, bracing themselves for a fight or second defensive measure, but got startled by what they saw.

Namely, the Doctor, completely unarmed and talking to a nearly exact replica of Sonic.

Rouge got over her surprise right away and shot the Doctor with a tranquilizer dart. He fell hard to the ground - still awake, barely, but obviously dazed and not in a position to move. Shadow came behind with her, beginning to put restraints on him before any surprise robots could come out of the woodwork. Not like there would be much room for it - this room seemed to be more of an underground cellar, with just a few chairs and a few wine racks and stray bottles - but with the Doctor, they never knew.

Sonic, though, didn't move an inch. Much as he hated to admit it, Sonic knew Shadow had been right. He wasn't helping at all. In fact, he stood stock still instead. _I thought I would be ready for this,_ Sonic thought. _It's been so many years. I thought I could handle it. But he's right there…Scourge… after all this time…._

He didn't wear his added years quite like Sonic did. No tired expression, no calming of his temperament. He was still wearing sunglasses indoors, probably for the same reason he did when the two really knew each other. It looked cool, he had said once. There was nothing else.

The green hedgehog's grin spread wide across his face. Sonic thought immediately of the Cheshire Cat from a book Shadow lent him - wild grins before leading the lead character astray - but that wasn't quite right. No, this was more like a normal cat, bearing its teeth to a mouse before it bit it in two. With a sinking feeling, Sonic realized that Scourge also wore the same leather jacket as two years ago - more worn, with some weird patches, but probably still with that same smell of smoked meat and alcohol that used to drive him so crazy. He pictured being strangled with the sleeves, or worse, tied up while he had his way….

"Blue! Long time no see!"

Sonic shivered. Normally Scourge masked how similar the two of them sounded - he liked to make his voice sound artificially rougher, whereas Sonic was more gentle with his. But this familiar greeting, as negative in intent as it was, sent shivers down his spine. The inflection, the tone, even the cadence of his words matched Sonic' own speech exactly, creating an eerie feeling. It almost felt like looking into a mirror, only to see your reflection move on its own. "Now, what are you doing? Not talking to me for two years, only to barge in right as I'm about to land such a sweet deal?"

Shadow also looked taken aback, but for a wildly different reason. "Sonic…are you related to this guy?"

Scourge laughed, slamming his open palm down on the table. "Nah, but I can see why you'd think that. The resemblance is uncanny, isn't it? I was a little taken aback myself, when we first met!"

Shadow turned to Sonic. "Didn't you tell me that you didn't know who your family was?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes at Scourge, trying with everything he could muster to mask how freaked out he was from this trip down 'memory lane.' "No, believe me. We got tested. No relation. Just a really weird coincidence."

"Really happy coincidence, you mean. Least, that's what you told me when we first met!"

"Goes to show how wrong I was."

The Doctor was trying to speak, his words coming out slurred from a heavy tongue. "You're making a big mistake! You don't understand what we're–"

And he got gagged by a piece of cloth. Where had Rouge been hiding that thing? No, you know what, he didn't want to know.

Scourge let out a cackling laugh. "You were the one that came on to me, remember! We were both kids! We were both drunk! And we both liked what we saw! Come on, you can't tell me it wasn't good for you!"

Sonic stammered, his eyes unconsciously darting to Shadow. He noted with a sense of dread that Shadow looked on with a neutral expression on his face. "You can't do this–"

"What, scared of your new 'hero' reputation? Maybe it's time you let people see you aren't so flawless after all. Almost makes up for the money I'm about to lose 'cause of you."

"Cut it out!"

Shadow narrowed his eyes at the stranger in the room. "I don't think anything you could say could change what I think of Sonic. Go ahead. Tell me."

"Did he tell you he's a fucking queer?"

Silence. "What?"

"Yeah! I know, right? I mean, it's obvious when you really think about it. I find it _so_ hard to believe that in all the time you've known him, he hasn't given you a look or even a pass at least once! I mean, look at you!"

"Leave him out of this…" Sonic said, but it came out so quietly that he'd be surprised if anyone heard it. His throat suddenly felt really dry, like he was more likely to croak than talk.

"And what else? Oh yeah – your true blue dude and I screwed! Did the two man tango! Made the beast with two backs! Did the horizontal naked dance!"

"Stop."

"And let me tell you," Scourge continued, standing up and starting to walk towards Shadow, "this guy is really something else when you get him in bed. Goody two shoes here likes it hard and rough! I swear, he bit me so hard that it drew blood and practically left bruises where he grabbed me!" He sidled up next to Shadow, who was tighting the restraints on the Doctor, and began to trail his finger up and down his arm. "Maybe it's some pent up aggression thing from constantly having a stick shoved up his ass, but when he lets loose, whoa, you've got to look out, cause he will take you for a ride!"

"I said stop," Sonic said, a little louder.

"But the worst was after it was done. He was so affectionate, you know? Cuddling and kissing everywhere, whispering things in my ear like some romance novel character. And I was like, dude, we just fucked, nothing else is gonna come out of this. Calm he was like, yeah, but I can take it fast and slow, so I can wait. How corny is that shit?"

"Stop!"

"So when he finally fell asleep, I just went out. He looked so funny, shivering in the bed like needs someone so clingy? What kind of baggage is that?"

"Scourge, STOP!"

The room fell silent. Scourge kept his grin on his face, but it wavered. Sonic was not amused at all, not one bit, and held back from looking at Shadow' face for any kind of reaction. The last thing he needed around this guy was to look unsure of himself, even if that was ultimately the truth. "Scourge, you are talking about things you have no right to talk about. It was a mistake. We both said it was a mistake. It's just the past, right? And we have nothing left to talk about here except for the present."

"What present? You whined to me about leaving you behind, then abandoned me for two years!"

"Well, for starters, you're working with my literal arch nemesis? What's he even paying you for, anyway?"

Scourge laughed and leaned back. "Well you got me there. I'm not gonna say shit, but a guy's gotta do what it takes to keep eating in this town, right?"

"Somehow," Sonic said with venom, "I never thought that'd be a problem for you, Scourge. You always got what you needed, and it was never enough. You only took more because you could."

Scourge looked at him, then pulled away his sunglasses. The piercing blue eyes dug into him, throwing him internally off balance. "See, blue, that's the difference between you and me. You pretend that you don't want things that you do, and feel disappointed that you don't get them. You have to drink first to admit that even after all this time, you just want someone to touch you. Kiss you. Drive you into the fucking mattress. And is it so terrible when I give you what you need so badly? And then you give me nothing in return but a pain in my ass! You're pathetic. And I'm done. Have fun with your new toy."

Scourge started to walk away, but Sonic found himself overcome with an anger he hadn't felt in years. His face flushed red, and without even realizing it, he threw a punch. A brawl ensued that, to the outside eye, it was remarkably fast; blurring of movement of punches, kicks, throws, metal, even pulling quills filled the room with a turquoise haze. The two narrowly missed the furniture, Sonic not wanting to actually kill or even seriously hurt Scourge, and Scourge not wanting to break his things. The few times Sonic could let his focus leave the fight, he looked back to Shadow Shadow. Shadow, holding back the Doctor's now unconscious body. Shadow, staring open mouthed at the scuffle where Sonic was clearly holding back, but somehow also losing. Shadow, using the fight as a distraction as he and Rouge took the Doctor out of the room. Shadow, no longer there, leaving an empty corner of the room hollow and cold.

A hard hit sent Scourge flying back, the wind knocked out of him, and let Sonic have a much needed breather. He shook out his stinging hand, letting his fingers relax and replenish, then stared at the empty corner. Mission accomplished. Shadow got the Doctor. He was about to be taken in. Justice would be served, and the world would be spared certain disaster.

So why was he so scared about going back home?

He realized he had never considered if Shadow and Rouge would just leave without him. It seemed appropriate - they were the real agents, and they were the only ones that really had clearance to take him back. But that also meant that likely, the last time Shadow would see him was punching his doppelgänger in a shady bar basement after he admitted to fucking him while drunk. What if Shadow never came back? What if he had ruined any chances for a real relationship with him? Not the romantic kind - he doubted he could ever even broach the question - but something more than this awkward acquaintance, rival, occasional partner in justice role. He felt a sense of melancholy as he caught his breath. They took him out, and after this fight, Sonic would be done too. It was over, then. The books. The visits. The coffee. All of it.

Scourge was right about one thing, he realized. If he wanted something from Shadow, he would have to buck up and say so. Otherwise, he would have no chance - and frankly, it might already be too late.

And that terrified him.

Scourge was back on his feet, running full tilt at him. Sonic braced himself, putting the metal of his crutches between him as a sort of barrier…but he never felt the impact. Instead, Scourge's eyes lost all focus, and he tumbled to the ground. Another dart was stuck in his side - one Sonic didn't hear being thrown.

"I told you that you were getting in over your head."

Sonic turned around, his eyes widening. Shadow! He was back, holding the dart gun, and waiting in the doorway.

"Honestly, why would you start a fight right now when we had what we wanted?"

"He was–"

"Not worth it." Shadow crossed his arms. "Rouge already left with the Doctor in the helicopter. GUN got you and me a car. You ready to leave?"

Sonic let out a long exhale, then smiled. He moved around Scourge's collapsed body, making a mental note to tell the barkeeper he was down here… or maybe, he thought with a smirk, to lock him down here in the cellar. "Are you kidding? I can't get out of here fast enough."

* * *

 **((AN: I wanted to point out something that I do in my fics that is apparently pretty controversial. Lots of people who write things on here seem to be under the impression the Shadow calls Sonic 'faker' a lot, and hardly ever calls him by his actual name. This is one of those things that I think got so pervasive in fanfiction that people think it's canon…or at least, it keeps spreading around. It's not really based on anything - if you look at the 'faker' cutscene in SA2:B, Sonic is actually the one who calls Shadow 'faker,' to which Shadow replies, "I think you're the fake hedgehog around here." The words aren't used in that kind of context again. What's more, in that game and many others, Shadow calls Sonic by name multiple times. And yet, this idea persists, to the point where apparently I get PMs for 'being OOC.' So there it is. I've explained myself. Have a pleasant day.))**


	9. Three hundred and two

**((AN: No content warnings for this chapter. Question: when I have had content warnings before a given chapter, have they been helpful? As in, are they effective, or just annoying and taking up space? Please let me know. Thanks.))**

* * *

Once they went to the hospital, everything moved so quickly. Moments after entering, Silver and Amy took two tired residents, fresh off of thirty six hour shifts, who were could barely stay upright from the exhaustion. After some time and a quick rest, they walked with them through the hospital, realizing they could unlock so much information from simple observation. Some bodies were in the library, but there was only so much that could be learned from books; the key, they realized, was finding bodies with the right kind of knowledge to begin with so they could "remember" the most information. And sure enough, it worked.

They "remembered" the structure of the veins weaving themselves through the human body, lighting the reaches of each limb with pain when touched, from illustrations on the walls.

They "remembered" where bone met bone, how joints connected the pieces together, and how easily it could all fall apart if not treated correctly.

The "remembered" about Band-Aids, splints, gurneys, ambulances, and heart rate monitors, and they remembered broken bones, infections, pneumonia, cancers, and death.

All together, it horrified them.

These bodies that they had worn like armor were durable, but ultimately breakable. They could heal, but not always, and not fully. For seemingly no reason, they could crumble after the smallest of cuts, the most specific of blows. They had thought that as long as they slept and ate and breathed, they could keep moving, keep spreading The Purpose, keep feeling happy. The truth was, though, that there was a finite amount they could do; without strong care in places like hospitals, their vessels would only fall apart. Be rendered useless. Disintegrate.

When they "remembered" I.V.s, vaccinations, and blood transfusions, though, it almost made it better.

As it turned out, so long as the black was kept in warm fluid, it could stay active - not as long as when it was in a body, mind, but certainly longer than when clinging to a robotic shell. Crutches, magnets, and more were converted into more material, and the motion of their bodies encouraged growth and multiplication. When the material had expanded enough to be ready to be put in more hosts, the black was put in syringes, drips, and bags of warmed blood to be ready for transfer. Preparing the fluids had been difficult at first - there wasn't a documented way to do it, and the motions of it felt foreign in their stiff, uncooperative fingers - but they had devised a solid method before too long.

The first few who they attempted to stick with the black panicked, yelling about how they couldn't have "that grey stuff" inside of them. The residents tried to calm them down, but they only accepted so much as the "will of the doctors." When nurses came in to check on the patients, though they held them down and took them too – and as it turned out, patients were less concerned about taking "the medication" when they saw it come from a nurse. It all moved quickly once they realized who could instigate the change and who couldn't; the nurses armed their workstations on wheels with vials of the black matter and went from room to room, operating under the guise of checkup and administering pain medication, their smiles confused for individual concern for the patient. The former patients, who weren't trusted as much by the non-converted to give them the black, were set up in the nurses' stations with buckets to gather more material. The operation was incredibly efficient - there was no need for phones, comms, or radios when they could know where all the others were through their eyes. The former patients didn't even have to say anything when another batch was ready - a nurse would simply walk over, timing it perfectly from when it was ready to when it was passed on to someone else.

There were so many beds to sleep on there, and so many bodies to spread their joy to. How much could they learn? How much could they expand? The possibilities seemed limited only by the fragility of the bodies themselves, and as they unlocked more knowledge of medicine, the more they became convinced that illness, pain, maybe even death could be eradicated. It was the best thing for The Purpose, after all, to have its vessels continue indefinitely; so many of the barriers to taking care of the body, like bills and fear, were vanquished in the face of what the world needed to be. The doctors stayed, enabling their shrouded memories and using their experience to help the people inside. The patients that were well enough went to the phones and began calling numbers from the scheduling system, sending emails, trying to bring as many people in as possible. Only a few computers could be used - nobody could remember the login, but some of the schedulers helpfully put papers by their computer with their usernames and passwords - but it was enough to create a newer, larger hub.

Their joy grew. It multiplied. It thrived.

Amy and Silver returned to The Nest, not being the best bodies to have there, but the hub of activity continued to move. From the outside, things would seem to be exactly the same. Doctors and nurses cared for their patients. The sick became less sick. The broken kept healing. If anything, it became more efficient than before, as people moved in and out more quickly. It was only if a person took too close a look at what was going on that they'd notice three crucial differences.

The first, that the doctors and nurses moved slowly, stiffly, and seemed to pause for a while before making any kind of decision.

Second, that each of the people inside had the same facial expression; eyes half lidded, calm, with an occasional smile and shiver.

And lastly, that neither the doctors nor the patients talked to each other. Not one word. In fact, once a person got past the front desk staff, each doctor's office seemed eerily quiet.

* * *

As it turns out, Scourge was a felon, violating his parole. Sonic didn't know the specifics of it - Shadow had called in to headquarters, they gave him the info, and they told them to bring him in - but according to his superiors, Shadow couldn't ignore it if he wanted to keep a job. Much as the both of them would have liked to leave Scourge behind as a disgusting memory of what happened in Casinopolis, instead Scourge got restrained and put in the back of the borrowed police car. It almost felt good to see him with his legs and arms tied together, hog tied, but it practically guaranteed that what was already going to be a long car ride would become that much more awkward.

Great.

At least he got gagged, too, so he could shut up for once.

The drive was going to be long - nine hours, to be exact - and going down most of the coastline. If things were any less awkward, Sonic might have used this opportunity to spend some more quality time with Shadow, and give him the highlights of the beautiful seascapes they were sure to pass. He'd been everywhere up and down this land by the sea; he knew where the best food was, where the most fun theme parks were, where the best views were. He wasn't sure how much Shadow would enjoy any of it, but he wanted to show him his world and all the joys he had in it before they went their separate ways again. Before breaking his leg, their roles had seemed almost reversed from what they were now; Sonic explored and travelled, and Shadow stayed behind - and the way Sonic saw it, that was no way to live.

Maybe that was why Shadow seemed so frustrated all the time, he thought. He spent all his time fighting for a world he never saw, bound by a promise to someone who would never see if he fulfilled it or not. If Sonic could take him to a festival, introduced him to some of the people his actions helped save, maybe even get him to see some of the mountains and valleys he liked to take to running through, maybe Shadow could see what kind of a place this was…why it was worth fighting for. His mind raced with possibilities - the towering peaks to the west, the shimmering caves beneath the northern lights, the canyons that cut their way through the center of the country with layered stone. He thought back to Shadow's comment about the stars, and how he could never be tired of looking at them because they were never the same twice. Each of these places felt the same way to him - they held a timeless endurance no matter how often they went. And if Sonic showed these places to Shadow, maybe the dark hedgehog would see that even down on this rock, there was something beautiful. Something they could share. Something they could keep returning to, something that was both exciting and constant in their lives.

Now, though, there was no time. Shadow had to go back to base, and Sonic had to go back to… what, exactly? The way things were? Running at high speeds, completely alone, and making his way up to his old condition so he could single handedly save the day again?

Why did that leave such a sour taste in his mouth? He should have been happy about it, but he wasn't.

"It's a journal," Shadow said, interrupting the silence. Sonic whipped his head around to look at him, but Shadow held exactly the same position as he had before.

"What?"

"Rouge told me you didn't understand what the book was. It's a journal. I would have thought that would be obvious."

Sonic grabbed his bag and pulled out the book, taking a look at it. "It feels like a nice book, though. I think of journals as, like, those pink books that Cream scribbles in. The paperback ones with pictures of flowers and stuff all over them. Not something leather bound and heavy like this."

"If I disappoint, I apologize," Shadow said, his tone clearly conveying that he didn't. "I don't do pink."

Sonic almost laughed. "I see," he said. "Well. There's that mystery solved. Thanks, buddy!"

Shadow pressed his lips together. "I'm not your buddy," he said. It wasn't angry like it might have been even a week ago - no, it didn't betray any emotion at all. Somehow, that was almost worse. "That's why you came to GUN, yes? You were being impulsive, but too proud to simply ask me such a simple question, and you followed me around hoping to find a time it would come up more naturally? Now you know. Now you can go home."

Sonic swallowed and clutched the book to his chest, trying not to look at Shadow. It was weird - he got his answer, the reason he went after Shadow in the first place. He should have felt a since of finality. Instead, he felt more hollow then before. There was something else going on…something he couldn't quite place. Boredom from being in the house for so long? But he had plenty of friends he could have called, ones arguably more gregarious and happier to be around than Shadow was. Wanting Shadow's company? But that surely wasn't so urgent by itself. Shadow would have come back around soon enough, after the mission was over.

There was some other question, Sonic realized. One he needed to answer, as soon as possible. One about himself and Shadow. One he couldn't form into words. One he didn't even expect Shadow to have the answer to, but Sonic hoped to figure out by being around him. That bewildering, unnamed question, nagging at the back of his mind, making his heart race and his hands shake.

What was it?

"Are we not going to talk about what happened back there?" Sonic found himself saying, surprised even at himself for the outburst. He put the book down, and focused on the road.

Shadow cocked an eye ridge. "What do you mean?"

"You know," Sonic said, gesturing with his thumb to the backseat, "with him. In Casinopolis. Are we not going to talk about it?"

Shadow didn't respond for a moment, biting his lip and furrowing his brow. "You distracted him while we apprehended the Doctor, and you fought him long enough for me to take him out. Now he's going in for violating his parole, and neither of us have to think about him anymore. What is there to talk about?"

Sonic took a deep breath. "You know that isn't what I mean, Shadow. Are we not going to talk about the fact that–"

"I don't care that you had sex with him, if that's what you're wondering. What you did however many years ago is your business, not mine."

"But that's not–"

"If he's the kind of guy you wanted to spend your time around, it isn't my place to comment on it. I was surprised at first, I admit, but that was it."

"You're not letting me–"

"I'm telling you I don't care, Sonic. The only one making this a big deal is you."

Sonic slammed his hand on the dashboard, eyes blazing. "Damn it, Shadow, listen to me!"

Shadow shut up. For a moment - just one moment - he took his eyes off the road ahead, and looked at Sonic, taken aback. His mouth was agape, as though he wanted to reply, but couldn't. It hung there for about a quarter mile of road, even trucks speeding by the rapidly slowing car. Finally, after a few seconds, Shadow closed his mouth and brought the car back up to speed. "I haven't heard you say 'damn' in years," he finally said quietly, almost meekly.

"I needed to tell you that who I was back then - the kind of guy I was, who I hung around with, what I did behind closed doors - he isn't the person that I wanted to be. I cleaned up my act. I stopped going to Casinopolis. I never sought Scourge out. I didn't drink anymore." Sonic's phone began to buzz, but he ignored it, not letting his eyes waver from Shadow. It felt strange to him - normally his focus was flitting from one thing to the next, a habit he picked up from trying to prepare for fights by taking stock of his whole environment. The weight of that single minded stare, though, came down on both him and Shadow.

"Sonic, you don't have to do this."

"I'm not going to pretend like I was never that person, because I was. And in a lot of ways, I still am. I get bored easily. I do what it takes to find the next big adventure. I take chances, even if they could go really wrong. But you need to know that everything that happened with Scourge - it's been over for a really long time, and it wasn't a big deal to begin with. And it's really important to me that you listen when I tell you that, because–"

Thudding sounds came from the back of the car as Scourge banged his head against it. It got louder and louder, and Sonic had half a mind to yell at Scourge to cut it out, only for Shadow's words to interrupt him before he could start–

"You're gay."

The thudding sounds stopped, and Sonic could have sworn he heard Scourge laugh through his gag. Sonic's face went beet red, and as he looked at Shadow, he felt embarrassed and worn out. He couldn't hold on to that kind of gravitas for long, not without a price. "Well, not exactly."

"You had sex with a guy. Sounds like you're gay to me."

Sonic winced. The words had no emotional affect at all - he genuinely couldn't tell how Shadow felt about his…escapades. "It's not that simple. There are guys I've liked, there are girls I've liked… I guess bisexual is the word?"

"Bisexual."

"If I have to pick a name for it." Sonic interlocked his fingers, his focus directly on the ground.

"Huh. I didn't know that was something you can be."

"Well it is! What do you mean, you didn't know?"

Shadow paused, that strange look back on his face again. That look of puzzle solving. "The concept of sexuality never came up on the ARK. People that were up there tended to be solely focused on their work, military or experimental. There was no time for romance or anything of that ilk."

"Not at all? Where did you think Maria came from, then?"

"I was born from a tube. I had assumed she was as well." Sonic snorted, but calmed down after Shadow shot him a side-eye glare. "And who would tell me otherwise, Sonic? The scientists out there thought of me as a lab rat, and the soldiers thought of me as a weapon. Who would want talk to me about where children come from when there's only once child up there? And outside of that, there was no reason for me to know. Love, friendship. It was never something anyone intended for me."

Sonic's blush went deeper. _Oh._

This was awkward.

This was so awkward.

This was so, _so_ awkward.

He'd never had to 'come out' like this before – it had never been relevant to anybody, so why would he? It wasn't like he had been in any romantic relationships. And as much as he told himself now that it still shouldn't matter, that he was the same person as before this, he couldn't help but wonder if Shadow felt the same way. But what made it worse was that Sonic never realized what kind of disadvantage Shadow was at. Of course he didn't have that kind of terminology, he realized. And what was worse, those GUN scientists and military guys… those _jerks…_ they had expected Shadow to just be alone for his whole life, not having any meaning outside of the warped sense of self they wanted to give him.

What a horrible way to live.

"I'm sorry."

Shadow glanced his way. "For what?"

"You deserve to have that kind of relationship. You know, if that's something you want. I don't care if it wasn't 'intended' for you - they should have told you about things like that, and they were wrong for not doing it."

Shadow tightened his grip on the steering wheel. "It's fine."

"No, it's not. Shadow, any guy, girl, whoever you're into I guess – any _person_ would be lucky to have you. You're brave, you're smart, you're a good person, and even if you don't believe it right now, you deserve to have good things in your life. And I really hope you find them!"

Shadow didn't respond. Sonic immediately felt embarrassed, though he tried to hide it - he didn't know why he just went off like that. It was all true, he knew, but why it all came flooding out of him… he was brash, but didn't know where that in particular came from.

Shadow seemed not to know either. He looked back to the road, his face wearing some emotion Sonic couldn't place. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, you didn't. It's not your fault."

"I only thought…it must be good."

"What? Being taken advantage of that guy?"

"No! That's deplorable. And if I have my way, he'll pay for it–" he said, greeted by muffled sounds coming from the back. Shadow banged on the cage in the back with a fist, not taking his eyes off the road for a moment. "Shut up back there! You know what you did!"

The sounds stopped, with only the sound of a thump coming from the back. He was laying down again, Sonic saw, and trying to brush away some stray quills by quickly turning his head. He almost felt bad for him - they were alike in so many ways, and Sonic couldn't even conceptualize how frustrated he'd be if he was forced to keep still for so long - but he kept his mouth shut.

"I mean," Shadow continued, "that it must be good to know what you are. To have a word for it. I remember falling from space and making my way around this planet without any kind of context for the things I was seeing. The things I had never been exposed to before. And when I found it, it came entirely too late. You were just a confused kid, but you could act on what you wanted to do. It must have been nice."

Sonic didn't know how to respond to that. It was true, being with Scourge was a mistake - not one that he would have ever wanted to repeat - but he had the freedom to make that choice. Shadow never had that. He had grown up - or maybe the better term was 'germinated' - on a government base, with a strictly regimented schedule and direction from which he couldn't waver at all. Was it any wonder that the second Shadow had gotten some freedom, he tried to use it to rebel against the very system that essentially held him and his close ones captive, the system that kept so many things away from him? How different would Shadow have been if he could have had more say in his own life? It was terrible to think about, and though Shadow would absolutely loathe the idea of Sonic pitying him, that was exactly what he was doing. Maybe he could find out what gaps there still were. He had no doubt Rouge filled him in on a lot of things, but the idea of that cross-globe trip seemed all the more appealing. In fact, he kind of liked the idea of playing teacher.

Still, one stray, conspiratorial thought lingered in his head. _If that was the case, how did Shadow even know about things like being gay?_ He grimaced, and chastised himself. _So not the time, me. Don't get your hopes up._

 _Hopes of what?_

Like a lighting strike, it hit him. The question. The one that really needed answering.

 _Do I want to be with Shadow?_

A buzzing came from his bag, making Sonic jump in his seat and distracting him from his epiphany of sorts. His phone? That's right, he had been out and about most of the early afternoon, and didn't take it with him…and come to think of it, he hadn't answered it earlier either. He grabbed his bag and, moving around the book, and pulled the phone out of the bag. When the screen lit up, he groaned. There were three messages for him - hopefully nothing urgent, but enough to check on it. He held up a finger in a 'just one second' gesture as his opposite hand typed in his passcode and brought it up to his ear. The automated voicemail system let him through, and he tuned it all out until he heard a real person's voice.

"Sonic, it's Blaze. You have to get to Empire City right away. Something's wrong with Amy and Silver. They've got this…thing. I don't know how to describe it, it's–"

Beep. Second message.

"Hi Sonic, this is Doctor Juarez from Empire City Orthopedics. You missed your appointment for cast removal, but that's fine - I'm sure you're a very busy guy. Please swing by the office at your earliest convenience, and I'll squeeze you in. I'm sure you'll be glad to get that thing off, and I'll talk to you about rehabilitation after we're done. My number is eight–"

Beep. Third message.

"It's Blaze again. Nothing is wrong with Silver and Amy. I am sorry for lying to you. You should still go to Empire City as soon as possible. Bring as many people as you can. It is very important. I have something I need to show you."

Beep. End of new messages.

"Huh. That's weird," Sonic said to himself.

"What's weird?" Shadow asked.

"Three calls in a row, telling me to go to Empire City. Two of them were from Blaze."

"Blaze? I didn't think she had a phone."

"She does, she just doesn't use it very often." Sonic looked in the back, then scratched where his cast met the rest of his leg. "You know, Empire City is on the way back - can we just stop long enough to get this thing off? It itches like you wouldn't believe, and the doctor who's been helping me is there. Maybe we can even swing by Blaze's place and figure out what's going on there."

"And you think the Doctor and Scourge won't escape?"

"Rouge has got the Doctor, doesn't she? I'm sure she can handle taking him in, especially with those tranquilizers. And Scourge is pretty contained back there. GUN can wait to take him in, I'm sure."

"They don't like to be kept waiting, Sonic."

"And since when did you concern yourself with what other people think?"

With that, Shadow's sported a smile. It was faint - if you didn't know to look for it, you wouldn't even know it was there - but Sonic could find it. Shadow adjusted his grip on the steering wheel. "Fine, then. To Empire City. But only a quick stop."

Sonic kicked back and grinned, feeling the sunlight on his chest. "We'll be out of there before you know it," he said, putting his bag back on the ground. He'd cleared some of the air, his cast was about to come off, and he bought some more time before dealing with GUN. For now, at least, things were finally looking up.

* * *

 **((AN: Yeah, I know. I'm not quite staying with either game canon or comic canon…or any other canon. Maybe it's games plus some of the comic characters? Something like that. It's fan fiction. Don't think too hard about it. This is supposed to be fun.))**


	10. Six hundred twenty four

**((AN: I'm not doing content warnings anymore, and when I have time I'll remove both them and this note from earlier chapters. They weren't being useful or helpful, and they were ruining the experience for some people. If you feel really strongly about only getting certain content, let me know and I'll send you content warnings personally. Thank you, and I hope you like the new chapter.))**

* * *

Rouge normally didn't walk around the GUN base unaccompanied. It wasn't because she needed assistance, because she didn't. It wasn't because she thought anyone would treat her badly when she was alone, because she doubted any of the other agents would be that stupid. And it wasn't because she felt lonely, because… well, come on. No, it was because walking through GUN's halls without Shadow or Omega with her was a cold, boring experience. Nobody would greet her save for some of the newer recruits, who would merely stand at attention, or some especially arrogant army guys trying to make themselves seem tough. When you didn't talk to anyone, it made it that much easier to notice walls devoid of decoration, cold air going through the halls, and the lack of natural light that made her feel like she was being strangled. At least with her two main guys, she had someone to talk to, even if it was just the recap of a recent mission or exchanging jives about each other's lives.

Now, though, it was just her, some low level grunts for extra muscle, and a subdued Doctor Eggman. Not the most entertaining of company, at any rate.

The Doctor right now was a sorry sight - his trademark mustache was bent upwards at one side, an effect of the long time passed out in the passenger seat of the helicopter. He'd asked for a comb, but it was denied. Too smart, the big wigs thought. Like he could pick out of his multiple levels of locks with it or something. And funnily enough, Rouge would have agreed with them if she hadn't also seen how bloodshot his eyes were underneath his goggles, or how dark circles were badly concealed underneath him. It was like he hadn't slept in weeks. Still, he smiled like a jackal about to cut into fresh killed meat, so she said nothing and kept walking, comb denied and seemingly unsympathetic. Better safe than sorry, she thought.

"Rouge," he said to her as they walked, "remember that time you worked for me? Back on the ARK."

"With all fondness, Doctor."

"Was that… was that better or worse than working for GUN is now? Give me an honest answer."

"Why would I talk with you about something like that in a place like this?" she said, her voice on the edge between cooing and demeaning. "You think if I wanted to bad-mouth my job, I'd do it here? Practically in office?"

"So you liked working for me more, huh. You want to badmouth it. Interesting."

"I never said that."

"But you won't deny it either."

Rouge would have turned her back on him and huffed were it not for the fact that she didn't trust the two foot soldiers to keep him handled without her watchful eye. Instead, she rolled her eyes and straightened her posture. "You're talking like a child," she said. "I wouldn't work for you now if you paid all the gems in the world. I knew you to be someone who sought power, maybe wanted to bolster that giant size ego of yours. Now you're trying to kill people with a manufactured disease - and for what? What can you possibly gain from a massacre?"

The Doctor's smile fell, his expression becoming stern. "I never intended for anyone to die, Rouge. And nobody has died, at least that I know of. That wasn't what the project was for."

"Then what could it possibly be, Eggman? I don't understand."

"You can do so much more with a body than kill it, Rouge."

The group reached the interrogation rooms and fell silent. With a harsh rapping on the door, Rouge entered the receiving end and greeted the Commander. The Doctor was taken behind one way, bullet proof just-in-case glass. It looked even more dark and stuffy than the rest of the place, but then again, why should criminals feel comfortable?

The Commander thanked her for a timely operation with all the enthusiasm of a child forced to apologize to his sister. In the following second, he waved her off, telling her she was dismissed. It was appalling.

"Sir," she said, "I can still be of more use. I used to be a double agent in his empire, and he never suspected anything. I can help with getting the most information–"

"This is above your clearance level now, Agent."

"How can that be? I brought him in. I know more about him than most of the people here? I–"

"You are dismissed, Rouge. Go home. That's an order."

As she turned to leave, she thought about how trivialized she felt. How so many people looked at her like she was disposable or trivial. How the Commander didn't really acknowledge her value, even when she finished missions early with minimal overhead. How even Sonic and Shadow kept wandering off on their own to fulfill some kind of wish-fulfillment fantasy while she had to operate the vehicle or plant the bombs. Eggman was right that she had preferred working for him, but it wasn't because she liked working for an evil scientist. No – it's because when she was "working" for him, she could use that position to do something meaningful, and when he was brought down she got .

That may have been why she decided to plant a bug on the inside of the interrogation room. The Commander may have once been in the field like her, but he was older now, out of touch. And, of course, he didn't look at her or question her. He'd never suspect a thing.

* * *

The doctor's office smelled like antiseptic. The lights came down on the doctor, Shadow, and Sonic with an artificial glare. The beeping coming from the MRI machine a few doors down kept disrupting the otherwise quiet room. It would have been an altogether unpleasant experience if it wasn't for one simple fact.

That being, Sonic was getting his cast taken off.

"Doc, I cannot tell you how glad I am to get this thing off my leg!" Sonic was practically bouncing off the walls, absorbed in happiness. "I mean, they tell you when you get it on that it's going to itch, but you think it's just gonna be like, annoying sometimes. It's been like ants crawling up my leg, and I couldn't do anything! Well, except for use a pencil - and yeah, I know that I wasn't supposed to, and you can lecture me later - and it didn't even get low enough to help, so I did it for nothing! And it's probably gonna smell too, right? I just want to lather it up with a bunch of soap, scrub it down, and lay outside under the sun while it dries! I–"

"Yes, it is very exciting," Doctor Juarez said, his voice with a completely flat tone and neutral facial expression.

The three of them had been here for half an hour. The doctor checked his pain levels and, slowly but eventually deliberately, determined the cast could come off. The doctor used a dull blade, and he explained to Sonic, like he was reading from a manual that the blade itself wasn't what cut off his cast. Instead, it would vibrate quickly, and the vibrations would split the cast - that way, there was no risk of cutting the leg. It tickled, but it was a small price to pay - after almost a month, he'd at least get to see his leg again! And from there, he could get his muscle back, start really walking and running, go places – he couldn't suppress the width of his smile, nor could he hide the pent up energy he was getting just thinking about it.

"Shadow!" He exclaimed, eyes beaming. "Just think! A few weeks, maybe some luck, and I'll be crushing you in races again in no time!"

"I know you are excited, Sonic," Shadow said, not nearly as enthusiastic, "but you can't rush your healing, or it'll end up even worse."

"But you don't know what it's like, Shadow! Being all cooped up, not moving, not being able to run around or breath fresh air–"

"Sonic. I literally lived in a tube on a space station.."

Sonic shut up. The doctor looked at the two of them with a confused expression, and Sonic waved him off. "It's a long story, and we're in kind of a rush. You almost done?"

The doctor nodded slowly. "Yes. The cast will be ready… now."

Opening up the cast was like opening a durian - sticking to Sonic's skin in places, a slightly sour smell permeating the air. But he didn't care. He just felt lighter and more relaxed, rubbing his hand against the exposed leg. His grin got even bigger. The leg may be sweat soaked and lacking muscle tone, or even basic stability, but it was open to him again. "Thank you so much, doctor!"

The doctor did not move - he didn't even take the cast away, or return the thank you. Instead, he moved to one of the tables at the edges of the office. "While you are here, you need to take a vaccine."

Sonic looked at the doctor, confused. That was abrupt. "A vaccine? What about the cast? Aren't you supposed to give me follow up stuff for physical therapy?"

"The vaccine is more important."

"What does that have to do with my leg?"

"We are requiring the vaccine for patients of every kind. There is an outbreak, and we're preventing further harm. I am not permitted to let you leave until you take it."

"An outbreak?" The thought of Eggman's bioweapon struck him. His blood ran cold. _We were too late._ "So it's already hit here? Is it serious?"

"Yes. It is very unfortunate, but we can prevent it."

"What… what does the disease do?

"People behave irrationally. They have strong emotions that cause them to harm others."

"So it's a brain virus…." Sonic said. He fidgeted in his chair, thinking of next steps. From what Doctor Juarez said, it sounded like this disease of Eggman's made people more animalistic and violent. He did have a serious look on his face, too. But he hadn't heard of it actually reaching here. Maybe Sonic was just that out of touch?

"The vaccine is ready."

Sonic shook his head, then threw a thumbs up. "Wow! I guess Doctor Eggman isn't a doctor of medicine, so maybe the better doctors already fixed it. And you say I can't leave until I do it?"

"Yes," Doctor Juarez said. He was prepping the needle, hands shaking slightly. "Please hold still. It will be over soon, and then you can go help others."

"Sure thing, doc! Let's get this over with!" Sonic offered up his arm, eager to get it done and leave, but was interrupted by a voice that hadn't spoken the whole time they had been there.

"Wait."

Sonic turned and looked at Shadow, who was sitting on the edge of his chair. He gripped the rim of it tightly, creating creases in the fabric. What could possibly have him so worked up, he wondered?

"You haven't checked his medical record."

"I do not need to. He hasn't gotten the vaccine."

Shadow stood up, approaching him with fists balled and eyes blazing. "No, you do. You have to check that he isn't allergic to a medication before you give it to him. You have to confirm he hasn't already gotten an inoculation of a vaccine in case it causes adverse affects when given more than once. And why would you give him a vaccine anyway? You're not his PCP. Isn't that his primary doctor's responsibility? Or a nurse's?"

"I do not need to. He has not gotten the vaccine."

Sonic looked at the doctor, really paying attention to him for the first time. He had been so wrapped up in the elation that yes, he would finally get his cast off, that he hadn't paused to really look. The doctor's eyes were half shut, as if caught halfway in a day dream, and he moved with slow, stiff actions that reminded him of a zombie film. "Doctor," he asked, eyeing the needle warily, "what kind of vaccine are you trying to give me? What is it for?"

"It is to make you better."

"But that's not what vaccines are for," Shadow said. "They're to prevent getting sick later, not helping someone who is currently sick."

"And I'm not sick now!" Sonic yelled. He shimmied off the bed, landing hard on his one good foot in a way that send shockwaves up his leg. He yelped, but kept trying to move forward, determined not to let it slow him down. "Doctor–"

"You need to stay still and have it put inside you."

"He has the right to refuse treatment, and we're leaving." Shadow

"You both need to have it put inside you. You will feel so much better. That is why we called you here."

"Both of us? Called me here?"

"We told you to bring as many people as possible. It is only two of you, but that is still enough."

"What the–"

If it weren't for the fact that Sonic and Shadow were seasoned fighters, they may not have avoided what happened next. The Doctor, realizing he was not going to convince them with words, lunged at Sonic with the needle. He ducked and weaved, picking up the remains of his cast and throwing the weight of it towards the offending syringe. It hit its target with a strong impact, knocking the syringe away and sending it flying towards the wall. It shattered and fell towards the ground, and they thought the matter was settled. It was only when the doctor dove after it, practically cutting his hand open in his haste to grab something that had fallen, that they noticed it.

Something was very wrong here.

They almost didn't see anything, since it was so small. The liquid had formed a puddle on the ground, as they would expect. The glass stayed in stationary little bits, as they would expect. But something in the remains…moved.

It was bizarre.

The doctor's bleeding hand, now next to it, had it move there. It almost looked like a tiny worm, crawling up his finger in a line and making its way toward the blood. "Huh. It can go back in. This is good to know," the doctor said, seemingly to himself. He turned to the two of them, the same blank expression. "That could have been unfortunate. It cannot survive outside."

Shadow twisted the knob on the door and, grabbing Sonic, pulled him out. Normally, he would protest, but instead he just let himself be moved, gaping jaw catching air. Something was very, very wrong with the doctor. Clearly, he'd gone insane, or something worse. Shadow and he could probably talk to the receptionist about it, figure out if something was going on that would make him act like this–

His blood ran cold.

The receptionist was rummaging through a nurse's station. The other nurses were already armed with more syringes, and even some IV drips. Some of the patients were attempting to block the door. All of them looked at the two of them with the same facial expression, the same cold haze as the doctor.

"You both need to stay still and have it put inside you," they said in unison. Sonic shivered.

"What the hell?" Shadow exclaimed, taking stock of the people surrounding them. "What's going on here?"

"It's like they're under some kind of mind control!" Sonic answered. He suddenly became very aware of how limited his mobility was; no cast, but no muscle in his leg either to carry him forward. He normally didn't get scared by people like this, but there were so many, and he was at such a disadvantage.

"We called you," the group said. "We wanted you to bring a lot of people. The world should know–"

Sonic fell the air escape his lungs as he was swooped up. Looking up, he saw Shadow, who was carrying him bridal style. "We're leaving," he said, and with a blaze of motion, he ran around the crowds of people and through the doorway. "For someone with so many enemies, you're awfully eager to get things injected in you from strangers!"

"I'd like to think I have just as many friends as I do enemies," Sonic said, trying not to think about how Shadow's hands were gripping around him. _Do I want to be with Shadow?_ came the question again, and he forcibly pushed it aside. "And he's not a stranger, he's my doctor!"

"You can't trust someone merely because they have an advanced degree! Didn't it strike you as weird that a new vaccine was already made and went through each of the medical approvals? That he wouldn't say what kind of illness it was? You are so painfully naive!"

"Than how can I trust someone?"

"When they earn it!"

For a while, the two of them were followed by more doctors, nurses, receptionists, billers, patients… but then at once, they stopped and turned back to what they were doing. Sonic felt tied between looking at them, trying to make out what was happening to them, and looking at Shadow to determine what the next step should be.

This was new.

He knew that Shadow was carrying him out of a hospital filled of nightmares backed only by the sounds of beeping machinery and the fluorescent lights lining the ceiling, but everything seemed to blur together as they moved The lights framed Shadow' face like a halo, reminding him of the artwork of Beatrice in the slightly worn copy of the Divine Comedy as she accompanied Dante through the levels of heaven. It was such an odd comparison to make; Beatrice was, frankly, used entirely for Dante's benefit. She was blatantly something for Dante to work towards as he journeyed through all the layers of hell and endured the pains of purgatory. She was symbolic, not defined. She was a concept, not a character. She was an idea, not flesh and blood.

Was his own thinking of Shadow so one dimensional? Or was the light simply playing tricks on him? He was dizzy, needing to grow used to moving at such speeds again after not running for nearly a month - maybe he was only dazed? None of this made any sense.

The two of them slammed through the entrance outside, making their way through the parking lot. Practically with a heave, Shadow tossed Sonic into the car and whipped around to take the driver's seat.

"We have to go to the GUN base, now," he said, buckling his seatbelt forcefully.

"What? Why GUN?"

"Police can't help with something like this."

" _We_ have to help them, Shadow! We have to help them right now!"

"And what makes you think we can do that on our own? We've got nothing except for two and a half working legs and a car. They've got the whole hospital of people on their side! They're obviously being influenced by something outside of themselves - we need to find the puppet master behind this whole charade, and take him down from there."

Sonic' eyes widened. "Do you think it's Eggman?" he said. "Maybe its that disease thing he was working on. Some kind of…hypnosis virus."

"Possibly."

"But that doesn't make sense either," Sonic said, more or less interrupting his own thought. "If they were controlled by Eggman, why wouldn't they just attack us? Why try for an injection?"

"We don't know for sure. He may have been trying to infect you too, trying to make you one of them - but that doesn't seem like him either. He's always just tried to kill you." Shadow shrugged, shifted gears on the borrowed police car, and started driving off with screeching tires and little regard for traffic laws. "Regardless, GUN will have more answers for us than we can get here, and they might be able to help us solve this. If not, the Doctor is in custody there, and we can persuade him."

"What about Blaze?"

"We're not going back for her," Shadow said as they merged on to the interstate. "You can call her and let her know what's happening. Tell her to get to a safe house. She can take care of herself."

"But–"

"Sonic. We are going. That is final."

Sonic wasn't happy about it, so he crossed his arms and sat back in the car. He felt the air conditioner hit his now uncovered leg with blasts of cold, and for the first time in a month, he scratched it without thinking about it. The car drove southward, the two inside of it not knowing that each of their movements were watched and followed.

* * *

 **((AN: You didn't think I'd let them be happy for long, did you? That would be awfully naive of you.**

 **On a side note, I always feel really badly when I sideline a character like Rouge in a story. She's such an interesting character who honestly deserves a whole story all her own - but since I can't quite do that here, I still hope I can do her justice in solitary scenes like this. Let me know what you think, if you have an opinion about it.))**


	11. Fourteen hundred and nine

Eggman had run out of things to do in his holding cell. He had counted the tiles on the ceiling and circuits on his restraints. He had tried to reminisce about successful schemes, and then when he ran out after a few minutes, he tried to debrief his failed schemes to see where he could have done better (that took significantly longer to do). Eventually, though, he ran out of even those, so he hummed to himself for a while, tried to think of new robot ideas, tried to replay movies he'd seen in his head, made clicking sounds with his tongue, and even thought of some new egg based puns he hadn't thought of before.

At some point, though, he realized that he couldn't distract himself forever. He had to get out of here.

He stared at the blank wall, which he knew was actually a one way mirror, and huffed to himself. He was reminded of a time when he had sealed himself into one of his own traps. It was an accident - an incompetent robot, a trip, and a faulty security protocol locking the doors shut. The walls closed in slowly on all sides, and as he felt them grow closer, pressing in on his ribs, contorting him into increasingly uncomfortable positions, he was certain he was going to die. It was only through remarkable fortune that power shut down to the facility, letting him live. Still, he had been stuck there in a tiny room for two hours before he could be let out. It was among the most miserable experiences of his life, and though he tried not to bring it consciously to mind, something about his holding cell now felt eerily similar.

The colorless walls weren't actually closing in, he had to remind himself - but it certainly felt like it. How long had he been here, anyway? A few hours? An afternoon? Until nightfall? He was used to isolation, but only when it was self imposed, and certainly not while bound so tightly he couldn't move. When he got out - and it had to be "when" and not "if," he reminded himself - he vowed to spend at least a week somewhere with wide open spaces, surrounded by his creations for company. He'd do some kind of plan that involved some eldritch nature god, or maybe even find a way to cause earthquakes and tidal waves. Something where he could do research outside, with no metal or beige in sight. That would be nice.

He closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.

If he could get himself out of here soon, he still had a chance of keeping his own mind. He could engineer an escape to… well, somewhere. It couldn't be anywhere in the Federation, he realized. He was a wanted man before, but now he would be priority number one. Other nations were likely out as soon as the infected could travel across the ocean on planes and boats. He'd have no way of predicting which hideouts of his were compromised, given that GUN knew about his latest exploits. And returning to one of his "deserted islands" also seemed like a stupid idea. Hmm. Perhaps it was time for him to return to space, or dimension hopping. At least there, he could be safe for a while. At least, until the nanites claimed enough scientists….

A crackling static filled the room. An invisible speaker blared a familiar voice - the voice with no name, but regardless consistently, relentlessly, present. He knew that voice like those of his enemies and hated it all the same. "Are you ready to share, Doctor?" it said, no tone to it at all.

"I already said to you, I won't tell you anything. I can't tell you anything."

A stifled laugh cracked through the wall. "Come now, Doctor. I thought you would be more creative than that."

"I'm afraid there is no way to stop the nanites, my malevolent benefactor. They were never meant to be turned off."

"You expect me to believe you didn't put any kind of back up plan in place, in case this backfired?"

"Hey, I'm called a mad scientist for a reason. My plans are so brilliant, I don't expect for them to fail."

"Yet, they always do. And the world is paying the price."

A long silence. The restraints on Doctor Robotnik's wrists cut into him more as he tried to move in his chair. Though he didn't feel any pain, he could sense the distinct warm wetness of a trickle of blood. It rolled down his finger, stained his glove, and dried as quickly as it came out. It felt like an uncomfortable sticky paint, one he could not get rid of. Liquid, he thought. The fact blood could be exposed without feeling… strange… meant that his invention had yet to go this far, into this room. Small comforts. The wheels turned in his head as he did mental calculations of hours, minutes, seconds. By now, he thought, his nanites would have at least made it to the coast, no matter what. The best case scenario was that any carrier would wash up on a remote seaside, buying at least a few days before initial transmittal to a live form - but the fact that Shadow and Sonic, those insufferable thorns in his side, had specifically sought him out earlier likely meant that was not the case. Who knows how much it had learned already.

"There is no kill switch. That is all I can say." He sighed. "Believe me, if I knew of one, I would tell you. The nanites will be out of control, soon. They can even get to me, if I'm not careful. The best you can do is attempt to quarantine, but even that is only buying a little time."

The static erupted again. Eggman winced at the high volume, unable to cover his ears. "I'm afraid you've misunderstood our intentions, Doctor," the voice continued. "Perhaps when we're on the same page, we can decrease the suffering you will no doubt need to endure." Doctor Eggman squirmed - the voice was cool and calculated, but there was a note of glee in it. It felt familiar; it was the same as his own voice when he explained his schemes to Sonic, so sure of himself and his victory. Being on the other side for a speech like this felt nauseating… or maybe that was the dizziness from not drinking water for a while. "We don't want for you to deactivate the nanites, Doctor. We want you to tell us how to control them."

To say he was dumbstruck would be an understatement. "What? But you're the good guys!"

"A simplistic notion, but sure. What you have done here is morally reprehensible. Robbing people of their free will, rendering them unknowing of the world or its dangers. There is no way around the fact that the actions taken to get to this point would not have been sanctioned or approved by any kind of government authority." Somehow, the words seemed completely non-genuine, as though read off a script. "But through your misdeeds, you have opened the door for a kind of world peace."

"Through mind control."

"Through… influence. Imagine it; an entire world with the same goals and ambitions, a world where nobody disagrees with each other, a world where everyone has the same values."

"Your values."

"Now you're catching on."

Doctor Eggman laughed. He shook his head, his body twitching from the strain of attempted movement. "I can't say I'm surprised. GUN has always been a step behind my evil genius, and now you want to exploit it. Controlling the masses for your own means? It's exactly what I made the nanites for in the first place."

"We remind you, doctor, that if you do not comply with us we will make life very painful for you here. It is in your best interests to cooperate."

"I won't. And you won't be able to do a thing to me."

"And why is that?"

"Because I have exactly what I need from you, and now I can make my exit."

With a blast, the room filled with debris and dust. When it cleared, the wall was gone - and the doctor along with it. When the GUN guards looked at the debris later, they could find tiny shards from a pink bomb littering the floor.

* * *

Shadow had been redirected to the labs when he mentioned the incident at the hospital. He had told Sonic that was unusual, but not unheard of - the root cause was a bioweapon, after all. GUN probably wanted their scientists to know first about any developments they had encountered in the field, so to speak. He was very open about the fact that this didn't sit well with him; "GUN doesn't normally care about the science of discovery or the right thing for the world," he said with a snort. "Only what will keep the peace in this country - even if that peace is forced."

Sonic shrugged. Frankly, he couldn't care less about the politics of it.

As Shadow directed him through GUN's featureless hallways, Sonic found himself uncharacteristically silent. Shadow carried an unconscious Scourge over the shoulder, not betraying any strain from the weight. Meanwhile, Sonic was still adjusting to the castless leg, still using crutches to move around. He looked at his own two feet, grimacing. It had been a few hours since the doctor's office, where his cast had come off and he had been subsequently attacked. The whole hospital… it had been swarmed with people attacking him. He tried calling Blaze multiple times to warn her, only to go straight to voicemail. He was safe for now, but there were so many people there… how much damage could they have done in three hours? How far could they travel? Could they have even followed them there?

Shadow huffed and switched Scourge to his other shoulder. "We're almost at the labs," he said, "and we can drop him off there. Then I need to debrief my superior officer on the situation."

Sonic breathed heavily. "Just you?"

"I'd imagine they'll want your first person perspective as well. You're already in too deep for what your level of clearance is supposed to be, so what's a little more?"

"The mission isn't over yet?"

"No, your mission with me to capture the Doctor is done. But this is just one battle in a new war - I wouldn't be surprised if the commander put me on a new task right away."

Sonic looked at hims with a panicked expression. "You, alone?"

Shadow's grip on the body tightened. "Sonic, you saw what happened in that doctor's office. You almost let that doctor take you and make you into one of them, and if I hadn't been there-"

"I wouldn't let that happen again! I know what we're up against, and I'm just as ready to fight as ever. I handled myself just fine back there!"

"If I hadn't been there to tell you the doctor was about to inject you with something strange," Shadow continued, "or to carry you out, you would have been gone. I can't let that happen."

"Shadow, I'm in danger literally all the time. I'm used to it. You don't need to be alone in this!"

"This isn't negotiable, Sonic. The world cannot lose you." Shadow scanned his iris at the lab entrance, and the door opened. "I cannot lose you," he said more quietly, as he stepped through. Sonic followed closely behind.

"What do you mean by- wait. Why is it all dark in here? Where are all the people?"

Shadow narrowed his eyes, and the doors slammed shut behind them both. He tried activating the iris scan again to let them out, but the machine only blared warnings at him. _Access denied. Access denied. Access-_

"What the hell?" Shadow muttered, putting Scourge down on a table and trying again. Access denied. "This isn't right. Something is wrong here."

Robotic arms moved around the walls, coming from the far side of the room towards them. When they landed on Scourge, robotic voices spoke in eerily sweet tones as they touched his skin. _Subject 9992 identified. Warrants for arrest and detainment processed. Certificate of death processed. Commencing experiment._

Sonic was confused. "Certificate of death? But he's not-"

"Get down!" Shadow hissed. He tackled him to the ground, holding a finger to the other's lips. The movement brought a stinging pain up Sonic's bad leg, but sure enough, he said nothing - just winced. In the dark, he could barely make out what was going on. Robotic arms placed restraining cuffs on Scourge's legs and arms, activating them with a few buttons. A spark from one woke the now bound Scourge, who looked at the arms with anger and surprise.

"What the hell is this about? Where the fuck-"

 _Subject now conscious. Evaluating physical and mental health._

"My health is perfectly fine, you piece of shit! Take these things off me or I'll-"

Lights came over Scourge, like the iris scan at the door but larger and brighter. Sonic could see him wince at the unexpected brightness, and he almost felt bad for him. _Subject is slightly injured in eyes and legs, but otherwise unharmed. Genetic profile indicates instability, causing enhanced physical abilities and some mental degradation. Subject is identified as within specifications for Experiment 447C. Introducing 20 CCs of stimulus. Expected conversion time is thirty minutes. Liquid samples to be taken in intervals of three minutes._

What occurred next made Sonic audibly gasp, causing Shadow to cover his mouth immediately. One of the robot arms brought out a syringe, which had a tiny drop of the liquid he had come to recognize on sight. It plunged into Scourge's arm, causing him to yelp. "Ah! Watch it! I have fuckin' rights, and I'm not afraid to-"

 _Subject has increased aggression-_

"Gee, I wonder why!"

 _-Sedative determined to be detrimental to study. Checking vitals..._

Scourge thrashed about on the table, screaming obscenities and making loud banging noises. Sonic looked away to Shadow, who continued to pin Sonic to the ground. His legs straddled the other over his waist and his hand over the other's mouth. His eyes darted around the room, as though looking for a weakness or gap - which was good, because despite the urgency of the situation and the several unanswered questions he had, Sonic could not suppress the heat rush on his face. Shadow mouthed words that Sonic could barely see, let alone understand. "This is bad," were the first ones, understandable though silent. He was so close to him, Sonic could feel the warmth of the other's breath. "We need to get out before he 'converts.' Can you be quiet here, alone?"

Sonic waited a moment, oddly enough doubting that Shadow had been asking him. It wasn't until the other looked down on him with a quizzical, frantic expression - Chaos, he hadn't realized how sharp of a red the other's eyes were before - that he nodded. Shadow rolled quietly on the floor away from him, and began to weave around the lab like it was familiar to him. With a sinking feeling, Sonic realized it probably was. The steps, awkward as they were, probably avoided some kind of sensor or hidden laser - they were the practiced steps of a dancer, who had done the choreography enough times he could do it in his sleep. Sonic wondered how many times he had to do this before - how many times he would have to sneak out of labs like this one to go for a day without being poked, prodded, and tested. How many iterations of trial and error it must have taken to know where the empty spots were, how to tell the security systems weaknesses, what the quickest way to escape detection at any given time was. He didn't even want to think about all of the times Shadow may have needed to fail, or what kind of punishment GUN would have in store for an escaped experiment, before he became as he was now. He obviously moved with ease, with the practiced precision that could easily have gotten him away scot clean… if it weren't for one outlying factor.

"What the hell is that guy doing here?"

The robot arms twitched, as though preparing to scan the room. Shadow looked almost panicked, and Scourge's face went from enraged to delighted in a split second. "Oy, it's the idiot from the bar! What're you doing around here? Want to hear more stories? I'm afraid I'm really not fuckin' feeling it." Shadow tried to duck away from Scourge's line of vision, but he kept yelling. This was bad, Sonic realized. The tech in this room wasn't the smartest he'd seen, but eventually it would pick up on Shadow's presence. It would track Scourge's eyes or understand key references, or maybe Scourge would even say the black hedgehog's name.

When he realized he couldn't let that happen, something inside him snapped.

Sonic, with all the strength he could muster, launched himself at Scourge. His leg felt like the muscle was splitting in two, and he cried out in a spike of agony, but it worked. He slammed into the green copy, putting a gloved hand over his mouth, shutting the other up. A small blessing in this strange time.

 _Other life form detected. Scanning for identity and qualifications for study._

Shadow looked at the two of them with wide eyes. "What are you doing?" he mouthed angrily.

Knowing there was no way out of this, Sonic called out, "Yeah, you big robot thing! Come get me, you giant-"

 _Life form identified as civilian Sonic the Hedgehog._

Sonic began to hobble back and forth, imitating a dance he had seen small children do to get their parents' attention. He banged on walls, screaming loud enough that even Scourge seemed calm. He tried to avoid looking at Shadow as much as possible so the artificial technology wouldn't notice him, and he hoped Shadow picked up on the message. Let me get you out, he thought. Let me do this for you.

"Thought you could hide me away, Scourge? I'm right here! I'm not going anywhere until you shut your big mouth!"

 _Life form does not have clearance for Artificial Pathogen lab. Protocol 9 initiated._

"Shit," Shadow mouthed.

The arms grabbed Sonic, and he mouthed to Shadow to keep moving away. As he did, Sonic breathed a small sigh of relief until he heard more words from the robotic voice, chilling him to his core.

 _Subject ID 10213 created._

* * *

 **[[AN: A friend of mine who looked at a summary of this part told me that it has a lot of similarities with the final episode of Black Mirror. I think the similarities are superficial at best, now that I've actually had time to see it, but I highly recommend it. In case you couldn't tell by the very long pause, this was difficult to write down; hopefully now that I'm past this part, as well as some of my work and school struggles, I should be able to update this more regularly again.]]**


	12. Three thousand four hundred and twenty

Sonic was placed in a "control group." At least, that was what the robot arms had said when they restrained him, in a slew of other babbling that hardly made sense. Scourge kept yelling at the machine to "speak English, damn it," but Sonic didn't mind too much. After all, he was used to it. Living around Tails, he was used to the kid talking at length about some new theory or an idea he had for a machine. He usually just smiled and nodded. He couldn't bear to have him stop because when he spoke about it all, Tails' eyes would light up like stars, and he'd have so much energy he could hardly stand still. What kind of jerk would he be if he made him stop just because he may not know about Onsager reciprocal relations or what the heck a polysymplectic manifold was. He asked once if Hamiltonian mechanics were made by the same guy that musical was about, and Tails only sighed. He knew then that sometimes it was better to just let people talk about the things they loved, and they would be grateful that someone heard them out. Then when it was your own turn to talk about something you love but they might not care about, they would respond in kind.

He rolled his head in a circle, hoping that would make it feel less stiff. His vision swam, and he felt the beginnings of a headache coming. Sonic wondered where Tails was now. Would Tails even know what happened to Sonic if he weren't to get out of this? What kind of state he was in? Surely, once Shadow got out, he'd say something, right?

Nevermind that for now.

Sonic wasn't the most book educated guy around, but he had seen enough science - good, bad, and ugly, mostly the latter two - that he knew "control group" in this case was probably a good thing. It meant that whatever they were doing to Scourge right now with that black goop, they weren't going to do to him. At least, not right now. And that was a small blessing. Sure, they injected him with something at the same intervals, but it appeared to just be cold water, not the murky dark color of the other test subject. They even said "placebo injection." What was the point of a control group or a placebo if they told you it was a placebo? But he wasn't going to say anything about that - even Sonic could hold his tongue when he was backed into a corner.

The talkative metal arms actually bothered him a lot at the beginning of his capture. He had learned - eventually, after a lot of distraction-screaming and spouting out whatever questions he could think of - that through some strange quirk of the United Federation's legal codes, detained subjects could be legally considered to give consent to each step of an experiment performed on them so long as it was dictated to them and they were able to respond. What the actual response was didn't matter, a fact both Sonic and Scourge had learned quickly after screaming "I do not consent!" over and over again to no benefit. He wondered what kind of backwards thinking lawmaker would leave in such a cruel loophole. Then he wondered what lengths GUN may have gone to in order to have that loophole, and to keep it there. His mouth felt like it was full of bile at the thought of it. Or that may have been the hours without drinking water.

"Blue, it's squirming in there! Why the fuck is it squirming in there?"

When he looked at Scourge, Sonic wanted to ask questions like what and where and do I want to know the answers to those questions, but when he looked at Scourge,s face, it seemed painfully familiar. He had joined Sonic in yelling, although his words were spat with venom. They had stopped around the same time, but the look in Scourge's eyes worried Sonic. He had seen that face in the mirror many times - usually, it was in his own bathroom mirror after splashing water on his face in the middle of a dark night. The water would mix with the unmistakable sheen of old sweat, both liquids rolling off his face as he'd sharply shake his head like a kaleidescope he wanted to reset. Not quite able to escape some terrible dream or memory, but not able to remember it either. A panic without a measurable cause. It was the most horrible kind of fear in Sonic's mind, and if he could do anything to make it better, he would. But he couldn't. So he wouldn't try.

Instead, he was honest with Scourge, shrugging as much as his constraints would allow. "I don't know, Scourge-"

"It's, like, tingly. Like it's crawling under my skin!"

"Think about something else, then, if it's so weird."

"All I'm thinking about is how your fucking boyfriend-"

"-he's not my boyfriend-"

"-brought us both into this place-"

"-and you were fighting me. I had a cast on and everythi-"

"-to be treated like marionettes."

The comment made Sonic shut up, tilting his head quizzically. Scourge groaned and tilted his head to the ceiling, as if he wanted to give up his soul. "Puppets, Sonic. Read a freaking book, will ya?"

Sonic glanced around the room, which started to spin like he'd just come out of an overly aggressive spin dash. It may have been the opposite, actually - being bound in one place, not being able to move, made him motion sick. Or lack-of-motion sick. It was like standing on still land after spending months at sea, rocking and swaying without any remorse. He wanted to cry out to Shadow to see if he could please oh crap please hurry up with the escape plan so they could get the hell out of there, but that would be stupid. All calling out to Shadow would do would get Shadow caught, and then all three would be stuck in this torture device. Maybe his would be even worse, since he was already an experiment, and not particularly well liked by anybody.

Well, except Rouge and Omega. And himself.

Sonic's face turned bright red, thinking Shadow all of the sudden. He was embarrassed, but it was true; he had never been much of a reader until there wasn't another means of escape. "But I do," he replied to Scourge, lamely.

"Do what?"

"Read. I read."

Scourge laughed. "Yeah what, like comics? Picture books? The odd magazine?" This last bit Scourge said while wiggling his eyebrows, and Sonic suppressed a growl. It was good Scourge was feeling up to making a joke, but right now, he himself was so not in the mood.

"Gross," he said, rolling his eyes. "No man, real books. Tales of King Arthur, Arabian Nights, The Divine Comedy…" Scourge didn't have to know those were all ones he read in the past two months, he told himself.

"You've got a thing for the adventure stories, huh?"

"Well, you know me. Just a guy who loves-"

"Shut it, you blue stack of needles." Scourge laughed, but not with any derision. In fact, there was a smile on his face that seemed… almost genuine? Nah, Sonic thought to himself, it couldn't be. Scourge hasn't been happy like that once in his whole life. "But… I don't know. The Divine Comedy. Why are you reading stuff like that? It's all… religious and woe-is-me?"

"They were a friend's. Beggars can't be choosers."

"Like that ever stopped you from being picky. Your friend has got some weird taste."

"Yeah, I told him that too."

"And you don't have any of your own books?"

"…I guess that's true too."

Scourge sniffed loudly in the air, and the conversation lulled. Scourge screwed up his face, and Sonic was desperate to talk about something, anything, other than what was happening with his body.

"What were you doing with Eggman, Scourge?" he asked. "You were never the outright evil type."

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you thou-"

"Nope, I know you pretty well too. You're a jerk, but you aren't evil."

Scourge huffed, avoiding eye contact. "He was looking for machine parts. Transmitters, strong ones."

"But why?"

"What makes you think I ask those kinds of questions? He was paying me, that was what mattered."

"And now you're trapped in here, with nowhere to go. Might as well tell me any hints you've got."

Scourge stopped. He looked off in the distance for a second or two, then sighed. "He said that he wanted to disrupt some kind of signal. I thought he just wanted to screw with the government spying on him or something. Figured I could do it for the right price."

Sonic furrowed his brow. Disrupting a signal? What did that have to do with a virus? That didn't make any sense. Unless there was something mechanical about it-

He didn't have much time to think about it before Scourge starting whining again. "Wait, whoa whoa whoa, this is- no, nononononono, get away from me!"

"Scourge, you need to keep talking!" Sonic interjected,

The arms extended from the wall with needles in them. Dry needles. They were going to draw blood again. Sonic winced as the needle plunged in his bound arm and braced himself for the inevitable screams from Scourge. But no screams came. Scourge just looked straight ahead, his mouth gaping open in a wide 'O.'

Subject Sonic has a conversion rate of 0%. Subject Scourge has a conversion rate-

"Sonic, your distraction bit isn't working! This… it's like sand! Sand pushing through me, going through my insides!"

-of 82%.

Sonic started to look around the room frantically. It was getting faster, the conversion. The last time it measured, it had said 46%. It wouldn't be too long now before whatever that stuff was doing to Scourge would be done. And then what? They'd both be here, facing each other. Scourge seemed to know it too, because he stared down Sonic with those sharp blue eyes of his again, smile gone. "You… you look like you've seen this before. Like you know what's happening to me."

"What, no I-"

"Cut the bull, Sonic. I know what you look like when you lie. You're incapable. What have you seen? What do you know?"

Sonic didn't know if he was making the right decision, telling Scourge. What good was it going to do for Scourge's last few conscious minutes of himself be filled with more fear and panic?

"I told you shit, remember?" he was saying, almost babbling at this point. The fear had gone from dormant to immediate, and he was hyperventilating. "Client secrets. Now you tell me shit. Don't you remember how this works, you… you fucking goody two shoes!?"

But if he lied to him, it would only give a false sense of security. He didn't want anyone's last minutes to be a lie, even if it was Scourge. Determined, Sonic looked Scourge in the eye and spoke the truth. "It was a virus, we think. People had it all over the hospital when I got my cast off - they were talking in unison, trying to give it to Shadow and me-"

"Shadow being the boyfriend?"

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"But you want him to be!"

That caught Sonic off guard. "What does that matter right now?"

"So you admit it?"

"Admit what?"

"You want him to be your boyfriend?" Scourge blinked several times in a row, very quickly, but Sonic barely registered it.

"What are we, twelve?"

"Do you?" His gaze bore down on the other, intense and focused.

"Argh, yes, okay! I do, and it's weird, and confusing, and he doesn't feel the same way so it doesn't matter anyway. I like Shadow, and there's nothing I can do about it. Are you happy now? Got what you wanted?" The sentences flowed like storm water, rough and unrelenting. His filter was long gone, eroded by hours of containment, his present company, and the sinking feeling of hopelessness he was getting about his own situation. In a weird way, it felt freeing to say it out loud - but his embarassment immediately set in. "…N-Now do you want to know what's happening to you or not?"

"But I do know what is happening to me."

Those last words came out calm and smooth, with almost no tone to them. Sonic had to shake his head, the change was so subtle, but once he saw it, it was unmistakable. He had been more quiet for a while now, less agitated, more friendly. His eyes were clouding over, and Sonic cursed himself for being so preoccupied in his own mind that he didn't even notice. "I know I am fighting something that's going to win," he said without affect. "I know you are fighting something you do not have to. Your problems are so easy to solve."

Subject Scourge is exhibiting behavioral and verbal-

"Shut up!" Sonic yelled out to the room. "Scourge, what do you think is happening to you?"

"Scourge, Scourge. Scourge." he repeated, not acknowledging the question. "The word is new. Scourge. I can… I can find it."

Sonic stopped, his blood running cold. He was looking around the room with those glazed over eyes, but his expression was different from before. He wasn't panicking or angry. He was… curious? It was like, instead of being in this room for several hours, he had just woken up from a sleepless dream.

"A scourge," the green hedgehog said, "is a whip used as an instrument of punishment. That is not me. Next."

"Hey, buddy-"

"A scourge," he continued, "is a person or thing that causes great trouble or suffering. That is not me. Next." A small pause, as he took a deep breath. "There are two verbs from the definition that are the same, and no other definitions. This isn't…"

"Scourge-"

"Why do you call me Scourge?" he said. "Why am I Scourge? Is there a reason for the word I do not know?"

"That's your name. Or that's what you call yourself. I guess."

"Oh." He started to blink heavily, but otherwise went very still. "This body is called 'Scourge.' Yes. That is understandable."

The lights shut off in the room. The robots stopped chattering. The computers let out a low hiss as they unwillingly went to sleep. Scourge's eyes shone in the dark, but aside from the distant sound of an alarm and small cracks near the floor, the rest of the room was plunged in black. "You." He said, words staccato. "Sonic. The Hedgehog. I know you."

Sonic wondered, in his own head, if the 'I' that was speaking was Scourge or whatever… this… was. The words that came from him earlier bounced in Sonic's head. This body. This body. What did he even mean by that?

"So many know of you. They had seen you before. Didn't know at the hospital. Didn't know."

"The hospital?"

"I saw you there. I was not fast enough. Blaze, Silver, Amy… those bodies could not reach you."

"What do you-"

"You could give it to others quickly. Your body moves fast. More than others."

Like a puzzle piece clicking into place, Sonic put all the pieces together. "You're all connected. You talk like all of you are one person."

"I cannot put it inside you now. I do not know where to send another body. Can you tell me where this body is? I want to know. I want to find it."

"And you said… Blaze. Silver. Amy. You… you took all of them! And now you want to take me too!"

"I want to send a body. You need to have it put inside you. This body cannot do that from here."

Sonic thought of all those people at the hospital, shaking in anger. How so many people had been doctors, nurses, patients, only to turn into another part of Eggman's sick plan. How Scourge's entire being had slowly seeped away from him, until he was no different than any other part of this… collective. How it said Blaze and Silver and Amy all were nothing but bodies to it, and how that meant it probably had taken them too. And when he thought about their goal to do the same thing to him… to make him into someone other than himself… he wanted to scream.

Focus.

He tried to detach himself from the situation. You're okay, he told himself. He had been scared before. He had been captured before. How did he get through it again?

This body, he thought. That's it. Squeezing his eyes shut and ignoring the racing of his heart. Sonic tried to focus on his own self. He paid close attention to the tips of his fingers, which were starting to feel like they were being pricked with dozens of tiny needles from the stillness. He felt the movement of his tongue inside his mouth, tasting the slight bitterness of dryness. He felt the weight of his spines falling behind him. Faster than he thought it would, it started to calm him down. It was a small refuge, he knew, but one that he always could fall back on was his own body. When he told Shadow about it once, he said it was called a 'grounding' exercise. When the whole world was against you, he said, you could always depend at least on yourself.

Thinking of Shadow brought a pang to his chest that he tried to ignore. Could he depend on him? Of course he could, he told himself unconvincingly. He's on his way back. He has to be-

"You and the other one ran. Why did you run? It feels so much better. You could both be with us."

It felt strange to hear the words come through Scourge's voice. None of the cockiness, the bravado, the sneering judgement. Just flat voices. He found himself longing for Shadow's deep, rumbling tones. He wanted to feel that sensation from the helicopter, to feel the vibration from his chest go to his. "Nothing can feel good if you aren't yourself," he found himself saying. "I don't know what's going on or what happened to you. I don't know how you think it feels. But if you're going to take away who I am? Who he is? You're not going to do it without a fight."

In the first show of emotion from the new Scourge, he heard a small rasping noise. Was whatever it was trying to laugh? "You and Shadow the Hedgehog. Yes. It is only a matter of time."

The room suddenly went pitch black with a loud cracking sound. The arms let go of them both, and they slammed to the ground hard. Sonic felt a sharp pain and crack in his leg, and let out a yelp. No… he had just gotten the cast off! It couldn't break so easily again… could it? He looked through stinging eyes at his look a like. Scourge fell flat on the floor, he realized, but that would only buy a few seconds before he recovered. His pulse raced again, and he started to fruitlessly flit his eyes around the room, looking for some exit. In vain, he realized he couldn't do anything. This darkness! It was going to kill him!

A bright light shone through the door, now open. A red blur cut into the room, and he felt his weight lift from the floor. The pain in his leg turned excruciating from being moved so fast, but he smiled and laughed regardless as he was rushed out of the room. The metal door slammed shut, and in the red siren lights of the hallway, he saw his saviors. Rouge, dressed in field agent gear, including her signature pink heart bombs. Doctor Eggman, keeping a surprisingly brisk pace and visibly conflicted about not killing him on the spot. But most importantly, his current transport - Shadow, holding him close to his chest. They stopped, and though Sonic was out of danger, Shadow wasn't letting go of him. He could feel the other's heavy breathing, as though he had just finished running a great distance.

Sonic looked up at him, almost not believing it. Nothing was really registering, between what happened to Scourge, all the alarms, and being so close the the one he just confessed to liking, it was a miracle he could have any kind of cohesive thought. That may have been why, instead of thanking Shadow or the others for saving him, he could only pant out, "What are you doing?"

"Saving you, idiot," the other replied. His voice was filled with anger, like it should have been obvious. "Are you okay?"

"I… I think my leg got messed up in the fall. Like, more that it was."

"We'll find a medic once we get out of here, but we have to move quickly. The Doctor told me more about his invention that caused this, and it's only a matter of time until-"

The metal door the two had just come from began to creak and bend, as though it were melting from the inside. Sonic could see the outline of Scourge's body.

"-that happens," Shadow finished. "Brace yourself."

"For what?"

"For this."

Shadow started to run, then shifted to face backwards. He was fumbling in a pack on his side, but Scourge was starting to go through the rapidly expanding hole. He had poked his arms through and was starting to step across the threshold when

BANG!

Sonic felt a small but searing burn on the bottom of his leg, causing him to yelp. When he turned to look at the cause, he gasped. It was Fang's gun, with its one bullet. Shadow managed to pull the trigger even from underneath Sonic, hitting Scourge right in the leg . It was the same leg that Sonic had broken, and despite all the circumstances leading to this moment, Sonic had a moment of sympathy. Scourge's looked so much like how he pictured his own when his break had happened - contorted in pain, small tears at the corners of his eyes - and the wound was already beginning to bleed profusely.

The expression didn't last long, though, before he plunged back into the blankness of the imposed He stared at it, and the bullet deemed to dissolve in the hole until it was only a gaping wound. "What the hell?"

"Don't ask questions, just run! He's injured, but he's almost as fast as I am normally!"

Shadow didn't have to be told twice. With Rouge and Eggman at either side of them, the four bolted forward and out of the base. Only Sonic could look back, seeing his mirror image left behind. The figure stared, eyes hollow, still shuffling slowly across the floor.

* * *

"Commander, the subject has escaped confinement after full conversion."

"What? How could you let this happen!"

"He was accompanied by Sonic and Shadow, sir. The Project had escaped first, then took down our defensive measures in order to take Sonic with him."

"And our securing devices did not hold either of them?"

"It appears the Project had never been detected, and had enabled the emergency protocol which-"

"-releases all containments. This is terrible. He should know better than to interfere with something like this. And you should know better than to leave that kind of exit! I should have your title revoked and demote you to lab tech-"

"You can lecture both of us later. What matters is that the subject used the temporary lapse to evade our monitors, and now he is dodging our containment measures."

"How long until he reaches our level?"

"It's uncertain. He doesn't appear to understand where he is or what he is doing here. He had converted some of our lower level guards on his level, and they are beginning to behave erratically as well. I would give us four hours to get to a secure shelter, but we would have to go though the rapidly growing population of infected to get there."

"So because of Project Shadow, we're looking at an outbreak?"

"Yes sir."

"May God help us all. It's times like these I wish we could just have martial law. It would make so many things easier. Not so many annoying legal boundaries."

"Sir, I'm getting a report from our outside guards. Doctor Eggman has escaped the building along with Shadow and Sonic. Agent Rouge is also accompanying them. Apparently the surveillance system shows them boarding an unregistered civilian aircraft of some kind."

"I should have known it was her. Traitorous-"

"Sir, the paths to the shelter are starting to fill with converted and the building has enabled quarantine procedures. If we are going to make it there and have any hope of remaining unconverted, we have to move now and hope we can beat them there."

"Fine. Let's hope they haven't anticipated us, and we can stay another day."


	13. Ten thousand

Everything moved quickly after that.

Eggman had somehow been able to contact Tails, who luckily was nowhere near the "outbreak." After almost cutting off the connection early, he was more than willing to pick them up. Like an angel, his plane descended on the roof of the GUN facility and the group was out in a flash. While the plane he took didn't have the Tornado's speed, it did have enough seats to get all five of them in the air reasonably comfortably, and for the moment that was all that mattered. The group of him had thanked him, and they took to the air before anyone could realize they had left.

Rouge, for her part, explained that she had equipped stealth bombs on Eggman's cell… just in case she picked up something fishy when listening to his interrogation. When she spoke about how her superior treated her, Shadow looked like he was ready to kill him. When she spoke about what GUN's plans for the "virus" were, Sonic looked ready to kill him. And when she said that she had to speed through breaking Eggman's constraints because she "wasn't really sure how long it would be before the cover of smoke would go away," Eggman looked like he would kill her. But she, in turn, was thanked for suspecting something wasn't right and being prepared for an escape, even on the spur of the moment. Not long after, Shadow and Rouge received strange transmissions from GUN base calling all agents and other employees back for an "emergency vaccine clinic." Instead of doing that, Shadow and Rouge tossed their communicators over the side of the plane in the hopes they would not be tracked down. Rouge said they couldn't trust GUN, to which Shadow replied that never could have trusted GUN in the first place.

And Sonic, sitting in the back of the plane with Shadow, was left feeling confused and tired.

They flew for hours, crossing the forests, coastlines, deserts, and mountains, until Tails announced that he need to land the plane to refuel. The sun had already set at that point, and Eggman pointed out, a little too loudly, that he had not slept in over thirty hours, and wasn't it about time they set up camp anyway? The others reluctantly agreed, landing the plane and even giving him a task to do (after fitting him with some restraints). He set up shelters in the area, Rouge and Tails went to gather food and water, and Shadow gathered wood and kindling. That left Sonic alone to do the one task that didn't need walking: actually building a fire.

He sat on the dirt, constantly shifting his weight. His broken leg was definitely in pain - slamming down on it in the GUN lab wasn't the best of ideas - but his other leg wasn't doing that well either. Sure, he could still walk with it, but a long burn stretched underneath, blistering in a small but noticeable line. It must have been the heat of the gun from Shadow's shot. He had hardly noticed it at the time - yeah, it was painful, but he was more than a little distracted - but now that he was sitting alone in silence, the lingering sensitivity of the burn bothered him a lot. He couldn't see it that well in the dim light, but when he ran his hand over it, he could feel the strange warmth in his skin.

And now they were having him build a fire.

Shadow brought back wood in bursts. He would go out in the woods, find a mix of kindling and large fuel, then come back. He'd put them within close reach of Sonic's sitting position, humoring Sonic's attempts at a conversation for a minute or two before disappearing again. The words seemed like a passing courtesy, and nothing more. Like…

"How is it?"

"It's a slow burn."

"Hmph."

Then….

"I forgot your book back in the car. It's probably still at GUN."

"No it isn't. I grabbed it on the way back. It's in the plane."

"What?! That was what took you so long!"

"No, hacking the surveillance systems was what took me so long. You are well aware of how quickly I can move if pressed."

"I could have died in there!"

"I trusted that you could handle yourself for a while. You seem fine to me."

"That's not the point-"

"And besides, I told you to take good care of that book."

"Why do you care so much- Shadow? Shadow, where are you going?"

Then finally, after his last trip.…

"What are you staring at?"

"You're doing this all wrong."

"What? Are you telling me that I don't know how to build a fire?"

"You're giving it too little fuel." Shadow gesturing at the now sizable pile of wood with an open palm. On the portion Sonic had set aside to get it started, there were small flickers of fire. It looked like it was going to sizzle out any second - certainly not enough to keep anyone warm or cook anything. Shadow gave a doubtful look at it before picking up some of the larger pieces he brought back. "Nothing's going to catch fire unless the bundles actually touch each other."

"Doesn't fire need air? Putting too much wood on would strangle it before it even started."

"It doesn't need that much space. Look-" he said, using the two logs to push the large pieces of wood closer together. Sure enough, the flame crept over the other pieces and after a few moments, grew into a blazing flame. Shadow looked at his accomplishment with a small, tired smile. Sonic was about to tell him not to be too proud of himself, but stopped before the words came out. When he looked at him, Shadow's eyes were closing and opening slowly. His head bobbed, tilting down for a second or two before jerking back upward. Sonic looked at him with bewilderment. He'd never seen Shadow tired before - at least, not in any way that he could tell - and it made him look… weirdly vulnerable. Like he wanted to drape his arms around the other, let him rest his head on his shoulder, and tell him he could rest on him any time he wanted.

Of course, though, he couldn't do that. For someone who was supposedly so brave, he couldn't face the possibility of that kind of rejection. Instead, he began to spout out nonsense.

"You burned my good leg, Shadow."

It wasn't said with any malice, but it wasn't said with humor either. Sonic just spoke the words, hoping that by saying something, more words would come out. Instead, they hung in the air, and for a while Sonic thought they got lost in the rushing air. Shadow didn't look at Sonic at all, but after a while, he heard the quiet words.

"Your leg or your life. I chose your life. You're welcome."

Sonic turned to look at the other. "By shooting Scourge," he said bluntly.

"He didn't die."

"That's not the point. You know I hate guns."

"Could have fooled me back in Casinopolis. And I would think of the two of us, I'm the one who has more reason to hate guns."

Sonic winced. Right. Maria.

Foot. In. Mouth.

"Fine. But it still hurts."

"Did we ever dress the wound?"

"I think we were a little more preoccupied with escaping from your terrifying employer, yeah?"

Shadow pressed his lips together in a thin line. "I guess," he said smartly.

"Besides," Sonic continued, "I've had, like, a billion times worse. Even from just fighting with you! Remember when we were racing in the forest that one time and you knocked me into a tree? Took me, like, three hours to pull out all the splinters." He laughed at his own statement. Shadow, noticeably, didn't.

"Well, you were cheating."

"Cheating? How can you cheat in a fight?"

"By yelling out all those dumb jokes about trees."

"What?"

"I believe it was something like, 'I don't want to go out on a limb, but I wood like to get to the root of-'"

"Yep, sounds like me. But I don't remember that at all."

"I do. It was obnoxious to listen to."

"What can I say? Apparently back then my bark was worse than my bite?"

Shadow rolled his eyes, very clearly done with this conversation. He stood up and walked back towards the plane, deliberately and slowly. He pulled out a box with a red cross over top of it, opening its latches in tiny clicks. It contained basic supplies like gauze, bandages, patches, and disinfectant. Shadow dug around inside for something specific before pulling out a specialty burn cream. He sat down, cross legged. "If your leg gets infected, you'll have two legs out of commission instead of one. Put your foot up on my leg so I can get at the burn."

Sonic complied, and Shadow began to put the cream on his fingers. He bent down to look at the site, then delicately traced over the blisters. The touch was careful and precise, but even though Sonic knew it was purely clinical, he couldn't convince some small part of his mind that this wasn't… strangely intimate. He could feel the cool sensation of the cream, but the rest of him felt like he was on fire. Did Shadow not realize how far up his thigh he was touching, or not care? Did he realize how close he was to-

"When we got in the surveillance system," Shadow said, drawing his hand away and reaching for the bandages, "we didn't get much but the video and audio of what was going on in the room. While I was trying to override the rest of the room's AI, I had listened in case there was relevant information I should know."

"And?"

"And," he said, unrolling the bandage and beginning to place it over the burn, "I came about as Scourge was screaming about feeling the injections. You were trying to distract him."

"Yeah, well it didn't work-"

"But near the end, he changed topic suddenly." He rippedthe end of the bandage with this teeth before securing it in place. "That was strange enough on its own, but perhaps understandable in this situation - he was controlled by some kind of mind control nanite machines. What was stranger, though was your response to it."

Sonic furrowed his brow. "What about it? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Do you remember, Sonic, what you said to him when he asked about your 'boyfriend?'"

Wait, what boyfri- oh. All the blood seemed to rush to Sonic's face at once. Shadow heard that? But, but he wasn't ready! He barely understood what he wanted himself - and now Shadow was going to lord it over him for how long? "The boyfriend thing?" he stammered. "That was just me babbling, since I thought I was going to die, or be trapped forever in GUN's science dungeon, or be made into one of those freaky zombie things, or-"

"Sonic."

He stopped. He was glad for the deep tones of the fire; the last thing Sonic needed was to get a comment on the redness of his face.

"What is do you mean by 'boyfriend'?"

His eyes widened a little - not enough for the other to notice, he hoped, but enough that he registered it himself. "What?" he said incredulously. "You don't know what a boyfriend is Shadow?" That would be some stroke of luck if he didn't. Maybe he never learned about things like that on the ARK, or maybe he thought it was a boy who happened to be a friend, or-

"I know what I think a boyfriend is, Sonic. I want to hear it from you."

Damn.

The crackling fire filled the silence, but not quite well enough. What could he even say?

"It's a person who… you know, he's like… um… geez…" Sonic started to rub his neck. "Shadow, this is hard."

"Really? I would think this is an easy question. If I were to become your boyfriend, I would want to know what exactly that entails."

Sonic laughed at this, not realizing he was doing it until he noticed Shadow looking… sad? No, that couldn't be it. "It doesn't matter. You wouldn't want it."

"How do you know I wouldn't?"

"Because you're you and I'm me. Rivals. Fighters. Acquaintances at best."

Shadow shrugged. "It would be a different relationship. That's why I want to know what is expected."

The words didn't quite register with Sonic, and he found himself getting angry. He pinched himself to make sure this was real life, and yep, it sure was, and now his arm smarted as well. He winced. This whole situation was messed up; if he had known in the lab that Shadow was listening, or if he thought he was getting out of there any time soon, he would've never said those things. Shadow had no right to listen in on that kind of conversation. But even though Sonic tried to convince himself of that, he knew that it didn't make a difference - he wanted what he wanted, and he had told the truth.

Instead, he tried to deflect. "Why are you acting like that's something you would want to do?"

"I can't agree to something without knowing what it is."

"And you'd never agree to it, Shadow! You don't like me that way."

Shadow pulled the last wrap of the bandage tight around Sonic's thigh, and he yelped in pain. "How would you know, Sonic? Did you ever think to ask me? Use your words?"

"That's rich, coming from you!"

"I saved your life, and you can't answer a simple question."

"Because it's not simple, and there's no point!"

Sonic rubbed his leg, trying not to undo the bandages. Shadow stood up abruptly. "Do you think I'm naive?"

"No, I-"

"Do you think I haven't noticed how you look at me during our visits? How you start to panic whenever I suggest that we separate, even if it's for your own safety? I'm not that clueless!"

The logs on the fire seemed to shift, crashing a piece of wood from the top down on the others. Shadow's face became brightly lit in a sudden stream of sparks and firelight.

"You wanted to know why I've been so nice to you? During the injury, and this entire mess?" Shadow bent down. His face was only inches away from Sonic's own. Sonic's heart began to thud in his chest, not sure if he wanted Shadow to come closer or if he wanted to push him away. "Honestly, I don't know. And it's killing me."

Sonic could feel his stomach drop, and the anger drained out of his face. "What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I think… there's something. Something that made me want to protect you. To take care of you when you couldn't yourself. To be close to you. And I don't know what it was." He lifted the other's hands and placed them on his chest. Sonic could feel the other's heartbeat drumming under his fingers, and it was then he realized it. Shadow looked calm and collected, and he spoke with a demeanor of confidence, but deep down, the other was just as nervous and unsure as he was. His breath came in and out in quick bursts, and Shadow's hands tightened on his.

"I don't know if this is attraction. I don't know if this is normal. What I do know, Sonic, is that it feels right, somehow. And if you would let me stay by you a while and figure this out-"

"Shut your mouth."

"What?"

"I said, shut your mouth. I'm going to try something."

Shadow snapped his mouth shut, looking at Sonic with wide open eyes. It was strange; Sonic has never seen Shadow look so careful before, nor so vulnerable. But here, in the last moments of twilight, he was looking at him with an expression that seemed so strangely innocent, he didn't know how to handle it. He touched the other's face, and it was soft under his hands. Before he could lose his nerve Sonic leaned forward, capturing the other's lips in a kiss. It wasn't anything involved or passionate at first - no, it was gentle. Timid. Experimental. But still, in that space, he felt sparks fill him up inside like a cyclone of fireflies. How could he have resisted this opportunity, he thought? Shadow was so close. And maybe his behavior was impulsive, but he had already hesitated for so long, and what kind of person would he be if he didn't take initiative?

To his surprise, he felt the other move his hands to his cheeks. The kiss broke, but neither opened their eyes - instead, they touched foreheads lightly, staying in a moment of rest before Shadow pulled him close again. The second kiss became more involved than the first - their mouths open, their bodies touching, and, if Sonic paid attention, he could have sworn - even though it made no sense - that he tasted coffee. This was the moment. The time he had imagined, waited for, dreamed about beside himself. And oh, it was worth it.

The heat between them grew as they shifted. Shadow kept his hands against Sonic's head. Sonic withdrew his own, wrapping his arms around Shadow's neck and crossing them behind it to hold him in place. He tried committing every sensation, every thought, every movement to memory. He wanted this to be something he could remember on the undoubtedly dark days ahead. He wanted to remember the smell of the smoke and the meeting of the fire's warmth with the cold night air. He wanted to remember how his hands shook as they tried to keep a hold on the other. He wanted to remember how, despite the other's fur being stiff with sweat, the stiffness didn't bother him at all - instead, it made him easier to grab unto, keeping him close like he'd never let them go.

Eventually, it came to an end and they broke again. Shadow shifted his weight, sitting next to Sonic again on the damp grass, and looked at him for a moment a moment. Sonic leaned his head on Shadow's shoulder, and Shadow leaned his own head on Sonic's. Sonic smiled at the realization that, after all this time of confusion and fretting, they now completely fit with one another.

"That was-"

"I know."

"Did you like-"

"Yes, I did."

They looked at their makeshift fire. The others would be back any minute, bringing with them the crash back to reality. The necessity of food. The practicality of the night's shelter. The reminder that this moment of happiness, this short bliss, was only the eye in the center of a hurricane of a situation. They were going to have to fight a storm of foes. They were going to face an opponent unlike anything they'd ever faced before. The whole world would become their enemy.

Even so.

They rested together.

"I don't know what a boyfriend is, Shadow. I've been with guys before, but not like that." Sonic held Shadow's hand, gripping it tight. "I've never had a person care about me for a long time. Or had a person stay that I cared about." He closed his eyes, vaguely seeing the fire's reds and oranges through his eyelids. "But if you're willing, I think we can figure it out together. We don't need to have all the answers right now. As long as you're okay with that, I think we can make it work."

The sounds of the woods were beginning to quiet. Even the birds and the rustling of trees went silent, and only crackling fire could be heard between them. When Shadow replied to Sonic, the words were quiet, but clear. "Yes. I think I would like that."

The two stayed there for a long while, letting their exhaustion take hold. When the others came much later to say that the shelters were ready and bring food to cook, they only found the two of them draped unconsciously over each other, sleeping by the smoldering embers in the dark.

* * *

It was only matter of hours. GUN's security systems were complex, and those who understood The Purpose could not piece together each of the moving parts that seemed to keep them out. So many were injured by traps - they had never seen "traps" before, but now understood them well, and could evade them - and the pain of bullets or spikes hitting bodies resounded through each part of the system. But metal - their sweet lifeblood, their means of expansion and replication - served as the downfall. Using the metal created two benefits for them; it disabled many of the security measures (and they had to learn what "security measures" were as well) and allowed them enough material to show those hidden behind them the Joy of being with them. One of the words it had learned from its many bodies was "community," and though it didn't fit perfectly here, it served as a good enough explanation for now or what it was trying to accomplish.

So many of them struggled, but they were used to that at this point. Soon, each of the bodies Understood. Explaining why it was important that everyone know The Purpose wasted time. Better to use the effort to give it to them, and they would be glad for it later. Among the hardest to show it to were those decorated with several small pieces of metal on their clothing, but like all metal, it eventually was repurposed for something much Better.

In its search for more bodies - carriers? Hosts? - they discovered the network of information that GUN kept for itself. There was so much to learn here, it discovered, that wasn't in libraries. Some had been lost in the search for raw material - the metal was perfect for converting to more of The Purpose - but it was smarter now. It knew now what a "computer" was, and what a "database" was, and the bodies knew of how to use them once prompted by sight. It taught itself about the politics of the United Federation, and the wars it had fought. It taught itself about crime statistics, hunger statistics, inequality statistics. And the fact that these existed was the most baffling part of all.

They called themselves GUN. They called themselves Guardians. Guardian, meaning defender, protector, keeper, custodian, or warden. But none of those were correct. They did not Guard. They hurt. They lied. They withheld. The concept of the three seemed absurd; why would someone hurt one that was like them? Why would someone who knew the truth not share it? Why would someone keep resources from another who needed it?

Such a terrible thing must be stopped.

It rejected the idea that anybody should matter more than anyone else based on something that seemed arbitrary. To it, the concept of multiple Nations, or differing levels of Education, or difference at all was abhorrant to the highest degree. And this was not the only place like this; all needed to find The Purpose and understand.

The body known for being the Commander in Chief of GUN called world leaders to an emergency conference, citing an outbreak. Many of those in positions of power came over the next days, one by one learning of the truth… but by that time, they did not mind either. When they returned home, they enacted policies and emergency recalls, trying to deliver their newfound Purpose to as many people as they could. In a matter of days, the nations of the world were dissolved. In a matter of weeks, they were absorbed. In a matter of months, the world had a new order.

In the words of those that were converted… it felt good.

END PART ONE

((AN: Hello everybody. Don't be fooled by the 'end' piece there - I'll still be updating as regularly as I can, and I won't intentionally be taking a break before the next chapter. I think I kind of robbed myself of that when I didn't update for almost half a year. There's also only two parts and a clear ending, eventually, so this won't be one of those fics that continues to update even when its clear there's no spark left in it anymore. If you've enjoyed the story so far you'll probably like Part Two - the division in the story will become obvious when I start updating for Part Two. Hopefully talk to you again then!))


	14. 75 percent

PART TWO

FOUR MONTHS LATER

Nine miles outside Holoska, even though he was inside foot thick packed snow, Sonic's body prickled from the cold. His bare socks were covered in small ice crystals, and he brushed them off with his hands. He exhaled through his teeth as one snagged on the fabric, letting a strand poke out. Out of all the places he'd had to go to get away from the mind-controlled masses, this was one of his least favorites. Hedgehogs were never meant to live in cold climates, and without good clothing or hot food, it was almost unbearable. Other places were too hot (like the literal inside of a volcano the Individuals camped out in for a while), or too wet (like the rainforest), or too painfully dry (like deserts). He longed for home, his real home.

But it sure beat the alternative.

Sonic sat at his "bed," a wooden crate with bunches of folded fabric on top of it. The only stuff that made it up here was what he had moved himself during the last evacuation three weeks ago. It took two hard trips to get even this much up here, and it was still uncomfortable- whatever he didn't use for warmth stayed on here for him to sleep on, leading to back pain and annoying aches during the day. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and he had more than most - he gave a lot of his bedding to people too weak to carry things on their own, especially with the shortage of food. It seemed like every time they moved, less things were considered necessary for survival.

He never forgot to take one thing with him though: his journal. Or, rather, Shadow's journal.

At this point, it was worn on its binding. The covers bore some scuffs from being dropped a couple of times. The pages slightly curled from occasional missteps with moisture and dirt. The spiral design, once a brilliant red, now settled into a dull and dusty color. Still, though, it was his. Only he wrote in it, and Shadow often declined when asked if he wanted to read it, but Sonic thought of it as a shared possession since most of what he wrote in it was Shadow's idea. He had remarked early on in the outbreak that if the world recovered from this, having a record of their world from someone conscious would be invaluable. Then, hopefully, nobody would repeat their mistakes. The most interesting things in history, he said, were never the battles or the opulence of the ruling classes, but the everyday lives of those affected by the world around them. Sonic had replied he didn't know what "opulence" meant, to which Shadow rolled his eyes and then helped him look it up in the dictionary. He couldn't help but laugh a little at the memory. Shadow may be a snide ass sometimes, but he was still the best boyfriend.

Pulling out his pen and wishing it would work well this time, he scribbled slightly on the corner of the page. Technically, he was supposed to ration things like ink and pens since everything like that had to be brought in from the outside, but he didn't pay too close of attention to that. After all, the people controlled by the nanites didn't need to write anymore - hell, they didn't even need to talk anymore. When everybody thinks the same thoughts and knows everything about everyone else, what need was there to communicate anymore? They could simply - he didn't know, beam stuff to each other? Which meant they wouldn't notice pens went missing until long after the Scout had gone, so taking a few wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Not to mention, when the most successful Scout is your boyfriend, you got some side perks.

Deep blue ink eventually came out, giving color to the indents in Sonic's page, and he grinned. Good, he thought, I can write today. Maybe I'll write up yesterday's entry at some point too. He started to scribble on the pages, his handwriting a barely-legible mess. _Day 112. Finally getting used to the freezing Holoska weather, which probably means we'll be forced to move again soon, knowing our luck. Shadow's been gone for two weeks, but I haven't seen him yet. He's supposed to help me get ready for the Scout exam. Still can hardly believe I got the okay to do it, but I guess less of them are coming back and they need people to bring back rations. Medic is hopefully giving me the okay to train for it today._

The ink stopped dry, and he paused to shake his pen. He still felt bitter about how long it had taken him to recover. As it turns out, you don't take off a cast for a major broken bone at only four weeks - it's at least twelve. And falling directly on it back at the GUN base when it was completely exposed way too early could have completely messed with the healing process. If he had been really unlucky, it could have never healed right and he would have run with a limp for the rest of his life. Thankfully, he had been lucky - it rebroke, but they took care of it quickly, and now, months later, he was fully healed and had his muscle strength mostly back. He kept thinking about what it would be like if - no, when, it had to be when - he could run outside again. The only times he'd moved, really moved, are when the entire group of Individuals had to flee en masse. It was not a time of joy for anybody; usually, it meant the infected had found their last hideout, likely, claiming several of their ranks in the process. It was hard to focus on running when you were carrying at least two other people and dodging flying liquid, shot at you from left and right. Last time, they had lost a third of their Individuals. The time before, it was half. And you couldn't stop or mourn losses until you were at wherever you migrated to, likely hundreds of miles away. Too much to think about to have any kind of joy in it.

Being a Scout, though… it was a boring job, he knew. Scouts picked up food, got supplies, looked for potential spots to move to if and when the Individuals had been found again. Truth be told, even though being subservient sat about as well with him as getting sandpaper slowly dragged across his skin, he had been prepared to take the test once he was moving at supersonic speeds again. It may be mind numbing tasks, but it was the only way you were allowed to leave the shelter. Be outside. Move. And after literal months of being held back by chairs, crutches, and walls, the prospect was intoxicating. He'd go through almost anything to have that chance again. Being a Scout was really dangerous, but at least you got to be in charge of yourself for once - as long as you did your task and got back without drawing attention before too long, you could go anywhere and do anything you wanted.

Real freedom. He missed that.

The pen spurted blue ink on his glove, and Sonic flinched. No way he could get a new one any time soon, since those were harder to make and come by. He half thought he'd ask Shadow today to grab him some the next time he was out, but then paused. No, he thought. He'd get his own gloves. The thought brought a smile to his face.

 _Tails says that the nanites have changed their own structure so many times the original schematics aren't helping anymore. The last batch of samples Shadow brought back were completely different from the first ones they saw. Tails says it's interesting how these machines learned how to mutate, but it freaks me out. It's like a real virus now, only it's made of robots. And I thought I hated colds._

A pounding came on the wooden door. Sonic put his pen down. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm coming. Medic wants to see me, right? Just give me a sec."

He pulled off his glove with his teeth and absentmindedly scratched the scar on his good leg. The burn from the gun was just one scar among many, but Sonic liked to think it stood out. The texture beneath his fingers was bumpy and stretched compared to the skin around it. Nobody could really see it anymore, but he liked knowing it was there - despite how he got it, it still reminded him of Shadow, and that helped him a lot.

The pounding became more consistent, and he groaned while hoisting his leg off the "bed." "Okay, I get it. I'm moving."

He sighed. Time to go from Hell to Purgatory, in the hopes of one day reaching Heaven.

* * *

"Reflexes…good. Vitals…good. Muscle mass… excellent. If you didn't tell me, I probably would never know your leg was broken four months ago."

Sonic grinned, leaning forward on the set of boxes that served as the medic's chair. "Aw, thanks doc," he said, showing his teeth in a wide smile. "I've been good about doing those exercises you told me about."

"And it shows. The speed of your running broke our only treadmill…again."

Sonic laughed sheepishly. "Yeah, well, that's kind of the only option I've got right now, right?" He exhaled through pursed lips. "I mean, for safety or whatever? But I think if I start training now, I can probably join the Scouts in a month or so, and you won't have to worry about that anymore."

The medic looked at him gravely, then walked to close the door. "Yes, well… that's why I asked you here early." His voice was lower now - not quite whispering, but carrying heavy significance. "I've talked to the others here, and we want you to do a Scout mission now. Time is of the essence."

Sonic blinked in surprise. Normally, becoming a Scout meant that you needed to take tests, learn strict protocols, and go through a rigorous evaluation to determine if they could trust you. Trust you to study. Trust you to follow orders. Trust you to work alone, potentially for weeks, in order to complete what felt like tedious errands, and then immediately do it again and again. Something itched in the back of his mind that he couldn't ignore. Something he couldn't help but ask.

"Doc - why are you sending me out there now? I mean, not that I'm complaining or anything, but you guys are pretty strict about the whole going-though-5000-years-of-training thing, and I haven't exactly been a model student so far. What's going on?"

The medic tried not to change his expression, but there was a small twitch of the mouth, a slightly deepening frown, that made its way to the surface. "Sonic," he said, his voice a near monotone, "I'm sure you've noticed by now that Shadow isn't here."

"Well, yeah." Sonic rubbed his neck a little - he tried to pretend that every day Shadow was gone, he wasn't thinking about the worst case scenarios. "But he's come back late from missions before, and it's always 'cause he's being careful. You gotta do what keeps them off your trail, right?"

The medic nodded, but didn't say anything.

"So what's that got to do with me?"

Putting away Sonic's chart - a ragged piece of paper, covered in nearly illegible scribbles - the medic pulled out a file from the lowest cabinet shelf. It had TOP SECRET written across it in large, marker lettering. "Does Shadow talk to you about his missions?"

"No," he said, stepping off the crates. "He's a real stickler for the rules - nobody but you knows what he does." And nobody can track you down if they get taken by those…things, he finished in his head, as he always did when he recited the rule. It was honestly the worst part of their separation; Shadow never told him where he was going, or what he was going to do, or sometimes even for how long he'd be gone. When Sonic closed his eyes at night, all the terrible things that could have happened to his boyfriend would rush into his mind's eye. Drowning under broken ice. Getting trapped without food in a ditch. Conversion into one of… one of them. It kept Sonic awake most every night Shadow was gone, his eyes red and with heavy bags during some of the longer missions by the end. It was miserable - Sonic was no stranger to nightmares, but worrying so intensely about another person… another specific person… was worse.

Then Shadow would come back, and they'd spend a day or two together. Those days were as happy as any of them could be anymore - Sonic would tell Shadow about rehab for his leg and the happenings around the base, and Shadow would give him small trinkets he snuck in from the outside, like pencils and gemstones. Then they'd attend to other matters, kinds that weren't as well settled alone… Vector used to joke about how the two would lock themselves away, "swapping stories and swapping spit." It was funny, until he was taken from them too, the most recent in a string of fading friends.

The medic didn't seem to notice the grimace that went across Sonic's face at the memory. "Normally, that would be the case here as well. But now you need to know what Shadow's was assigned to do on the outside." He flipped the pages from the folder open, and drawn pictures of GUN headquarters scattered across the table. The papers were tattered, and in some places the ink ran like water had been spilled on the page. With a chill, Sonic realized these were pictures of the labs - the same kind Shadow, Scourge, and he had been held in four months before, down to the containment machines and strange monitors. "Shadow was to gather medical supplies - antibiotics, untainted vaccines, bandages, the works. Originally, he was simply meant to gather what he could carry and bring it straight back here. No harm, no foul."

"And he hasn't come back yet." Sonic's eyes stayed glued to the drawings. "Was he supposed to?"

"Shadow sent word through another Scout he encountered. He tried going into this facility. Do you recognize it?"

He could practically see his doppleganger in the scrawled images, screaming, writhing, then falling eerily calm. The image was etched into his memory, carved like a chisel into stone. When he wasn't thinking about what kind of trouble Shadow could be in, he was reliving that moment, wondering what, if anything, he could have done. "Yeah, kind of."

"Well, he didn't get any supplies from there. Too much security, too many numbers. But Shadow did send these drawings back, saying that they're conducting some kind of experiments in that facility. His notes are maddeningly sparse, and I'm sure he wanted to avoid this getting in the wrong hands, but I'm sure you realize how troubling this image is to us."

The medic slid the papers across, and Sonic felt his stomach squirm. There was a room Sonic hadn't seen before. A large metal tube stood in the center of the drawing, and it seemed to hold a person inside. Limbs had patches of something strange covering pieces of skin and hair - something reflective, jarring against the rest of its body. But the most chilling part of the image was the figure's eye - it had the same notches and lens as a camera, its center a pinpoint, and looking directly at the viewer. It looked eerily like the eyes on Eggman's robots, devoid of anything intelligent or caring. "This…this is-"

"You, Sonic, are the closest person to Shadow. You know him better than anyone. And the same can sadly be said for you and Doctor Eggman as well. We are willing to temporarily overlook some… lack of training… in order to ensure their safe return."

Sonic looked up from the drawings, seeing the medic's stern face. "What are you saying?"

"Normally, when someone doesn't come back from a trip to the outside, we assume the worst. They're taken, it's only a matter of time before our cover is blown, and we need to move again." The medic put all but the final image back in the file and slid it back into the cabinet. With a click, the door closed, the outside once more looking unassuming to anyone else. "But as you are aware, Shadow is unique. He's skilled. He's trained. And most importantly, he's guarding a secret - one that could be very important."

"What those things are?"

The medic nodded. "And Doctor Eggman could very well know why this monstrosity of his is evolving the way it is. Locating him would be useful as well."

Sonic's ear twitched. "Eggman's alive? I thought he got taken-"

"-during the last evacuation? No, he's still sentient, and still breathing. Or at least, we have good reason to believe so. A Scout saw a man matching his description near Adabat. Why he would willingly choose to be alone when the world is like it is would be anybody's guess. I think he's got delusions of superiority over the rest of us, myself. But it is imperative you bring him back here, alive if possible, so we can get to the bottom of this."

Sonic looked at the image again, tracing the figure in the center. Shadow drew this… the detail was impeccable, and the proportions were perfect. The detail on the individual pieces looked like it had been added later, and he knew Shadow didn't like to dwell on anything for longer than he needed to, so he knew this was accurate and important. "Do you think…" he started, then stopped, shaking his head before he caught his words again. "Do you know if Shadow's okay?"

The medic's face betrayed little emotion, but some worry seeped through. "I'm afraid that I don't."

Sonic crumpled the paper in his hand, frustrated. "I'll do it," he said, "but I'm getting Shadow first. Egghead can deal with his own mess for a while." And I don't want Shadow to be out there, dealing with this alone.

"You realize that we're already bending the rules enough for you to even be out there, right?"

"And I'm going to do what you say. Get Shadow, get Eggs-for-brains, and bring them both back here so we can stop wave two of this super weird apocalypse we're in. But you understand why I want to get Shadow first, and it'll be easier to bring Eggman in with him by my side."

The medic paused. "Yes," he said, opening the door again, "I suppose that makes sense."

"Then I'll be on my way. Just let me know where to go."

The medic crossed his arms. "Shadow was last contacted in north Empire City, not far from there. He would have been making his way back here, but he's an expert in evasive maneuvers and deception. Do you think you can track him down?"

Sonic closed his eyes. He pictured Shadow there, alone, calculating the ever narrowing window of opportunity to escape. It's true, Shadow was unusually resourceful, but when backed into a corner he would do what any good Scout would do… the one true avoidance of conversion by the other. A way to permanently avoid having your knowledge be used against your fellow Individuals. The gun, the blade, the rope….

Every thought was horrible. Sonic could never let that happen.

"We'll be back home in no time." And in a flurry of movement, he was gone.

* * *

 **[[AN: Of course, just when I'm about to actually get into the post-apocalyptic part of this story, all of these Sonic Forces spoilers come out. Theories spring up everywhere. Dystopia stories flood the pages. And even though I've been working on this a while and have a few more chapters all but ready, I'm not sure if updating right now will actually have anybody read it because there's so damn many of the same kind of story right now. Because of this, I'm going to start a different story for the time being and come back to this one when the Forces hype dies down. I never do story-less updates, so I put this up so y'all know I'm still alive, but unless you all really want me to update right now, I'm probably going to put this on hiatus for a couple months. Thanks for reading, everyone.]]**


	15. 77 percent

**((AN: Wow, you guys like this story. Who'd have thunk? So here's some more of it, earlier than I was planning on I guess.))**

The Individuals at the front door let Sonic through the hidden exit. Looking behind him, he could barely see their hideout underneath the snow - if he wasn't paying attention, he wouldn't notice it at all. That's was a good thing; nobody would find it by accident. But he knew what was on the inside - a patchwork of shelters made of packed snow and wood, barely holding up, scattering powdery flurries from the ceiling just long enough to make everyone worried it would collapse. What a detestable state they found themselves in, that the air was too cold, their minds were too blurred, and their hearts were too hard to realize the true danger they were in. Frostbite nipped at all of their skin, leaving prickles up their arms like the small bites of thousands of ants, but none of them felt pain. You didn't stay in control of yourself this long without having a tough skin. It was a rough climate, literally and figuratively.

The worst of winter would be around the corner soon. It would be merciful and unforgiving, everyone knew. Hard as they may try to ration, everyone knew there would not be enough food to last until spring, even if they were in a place they could eventually grow more. Some were likely to starve without a breadth of new supplies coming in, and with the scouts returning less often, they couldn't guarantee that could happen. Their barricades would hold for a time, but as their cold fingers solidified in the frost, building new ones was unlikely. And what was now a biting cold would become a searing one, leaving the group up to awful choices. Would they face the possibility of limbs frozen solid, maybe even dying? Or would they light fires, leading their pursuers directly to them with the smoke, and risk losing everything they had worked so hard for?

All in all, things were looking grim.

Sonic's feet slipped over the ice, almost like skating instead of real running. It hadn't snowed in a few days, so the ground was relatively solid - a good thing, when compared to three solid feet of mass to push through. The sky was overcast and there was no clear indication of direction, but when your base is near the North Pole, you don't need much guidance other than "down." He shook his head, trying his best to not think about all the people he was leaving behind. He wanted to be the hero, like he used to be. He wanted to bring food, build shelter, create heaters, but that only solved the symptoms of the real problem. The nanites were becoming more and more dominant, and it was only a matter of time, fires or no, before their camp would be found.

The image of a partially robotic face haunted him… it reminded him of one of his off world adventures, when Tails had been partway turned into a robot by alien Zeti. He had known how to stop them from controlling his mind as well at the time, which was good, but the concept still made him uneasy. The only advantage they had over The Taken - and it really, really was the only advantage - was that they didn't seem aware of what some of the 'bodies' were capable of. If they combined their seemingly limitless knowledge with durable, unfeeling bodies….

Well, he hoped it would never come to that. And he tried, desperately, to think about literally anything else.

Feeling the whoosh past his face, even if it was bitterly cold, brought a smile to his face. It wasn't joy so much as peace that overtake him, despite everything. How many months had he been locked away and constrained? How many times was his only movement the shifting of belongings from one inhospitable place to the other, knowing his companions might not also make it? And now, after months, he was alone, taking in the air and feeling the gentle thrumming of his feet on ground. Unable to help himself, and seeing that he was far from any sign of life (Individual, Taken, or otherwise), he let out a loud whoop. It died in the self-created wind, only audible to his own ears, but man did it feel good.

Seeing a coastline, Sonic slowed down, skidding to a stop along the shore. Broken ice gave way to water, small fish and penguins splashing in the water. He paused for a moment to watch them before changing direction, following the water's edge as far as it would take him. He knew there was a risk that it wasn't the actual coastline, but just a large lake - somehow, he doubted that was the case, and took his chances. Okay, he thought. He'd go south, following the water, and get to something resembling civilization. Then he'd hide and dart around until he found something he could recognize to get his bearings, and use that to orient his way to the path north from GUN. And somehow, miraculously, he'd find a secret agent who definitely does not want to be found, over the course of literally a quarter of the planet, using only his couple years of rivalry and four-ish months of a long distance relationship as clues, who was probably going to shoot and ask questions later. And when he found him, he'd hope to whatever gods were on his side that Shadow was unharmed and uninfluenced by an ever growing hive mind that happened to gain more of the planet's complete knowledge about every conceivable topic, including the two of them. And then, they'd have to convince the evil mastermind that started this entire mess, who was probably still planning on taking advantage of this situation in any way that he could, to come out of hiding and do something benevolent to prevent a catastrophe the likes of which said evil mastermind had been trying to single handedly create for years.

Sure. No sweat.

After about two hours, his lungs were burning. He started to see trees - real trees! - again, and ice gave way to rocks. Then sand. Then dirt. Cliff sides and beaches, hills and jagged stones, breaking through the rushing tides. The spray of the sea grew warmer as he ran, and though he had to pay close attention to where he was going due to his speed, the crisp air stung his eyes. He wasn't used to this anymore, true. He wondered if this was what it felt like when he carried someone as he went at near sonic speeds. He'd be a lot more sympathetic in the future, he thought. Ease into the high speeds. Tell them to turn their heads away from where he was going. You know, if the world became right again and he'd ever be allowed to carry people who weren't already as fast as he was. And he wasn't fleeing for his life. That'd be nice.

A large cliff loomed in the distance perpendicular to his running path, and he slowed to a stop as it took up more and more of his vision. It hung tall, like a natural skyscraper, and stretched as far as he could see into the horizon. Wanting to avoid face planting in rocks, he put on the brakes, feeling the ground pile up beneath his feet. He thought this was just as good of a place as any to stop. How long had he been moving? How far had he gone? The air was pretty balmy and humid, and it was January, so he had to be pretty far south at this point… darn, he overshot the GUN base! But he could always turn around and go back the way he came-

His thoughts were cut short by distant voices, which told him that he was near civilization. Cautiously, he tried ducking behind jagged stones, hiding his tracks as much as possible until he could discern whether the speakers were friend or a foe. He focused his attention on being as quiet as possible, both so he wouldn't be caught by the new people, as well as to hear what the others were saying. Not to mention resisting the urge to peer out from behind the rocks to satisfy his own curiosity.

"You must put it inside you," one of the voices said, their words slurred and gravelly from lack of use. They sent a shiver down Sonic's spine, but it wasn't entirely unexpected. One of the Taken. That was what they were calling them these days, right? The name for them kept changing - the Hive mind, the Hoard, the Brainwashed, the Infected…. Whatever they were called, they were never good news, and they never had anything new to say.

In fact, they hardly had to say anything anymore; Tails had put the estimate of Taken on the planet at over seventy five percent of the sapient population. The rest were either in hiding, or they lived very remotely to begin with. So the only time they had to actually talk was to try to convince their abductees how good it was to be one of them, how wonderful it felt, how much it helped The Purpose or whatever it was called….

In any case, it only freaked people out. Frankly, Sonic wasn't sure why they still did it.

More surprising, though, was the other voice. "Put what inside me?" It asked, filled with genuine confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Be still so we can give it to you," the Taken voice replied. Sonic felt his stomach flip as he realized he could practically hear the voice gurgling from the nanite sludge that must be stuck in its throat.

"Stay the heck away from me!"

"You will understand soon."

"I don't understand anything except that if you come any closer, my fist is gonna get acquainted with your face!"

The other voice, Sonic realized, was wholly familiar. Brazen, deep, filled with purpose… sure enough, when he looked up, he saw an old friend, a red echidna far from home. A giant smile came across his face as he darted out from his hiding place, and sure enough, there his friend was. "Knuckles! Am I glad to see you!" Sonic cried out, reaching out his hands and moving faster towards him.

The echidna turned, his eyes wide and almost frightened. "Sonic! Keep it down. They'll-"

He couldn't finish his words before a burst of stone flew out of the side. Three figures, wielding drills and protective masks, came out of their self-created holes about six feet apart from each other. They looked at the two and, silently, sprinted towards them. Knuckles coughed a little, then braced himself in a fighting position. "This doesn't look good," he muttered, mostly to himself."

"It's three guys," Sonic said, coming up next to him. "We can take them!"

Knuckles snorted. "'Taking' them was never my concern. Angel Island drifted to the ground here, and these clowns started drilling in the bottom!"

"Oh yeah, they're probably looking for more metal."

"Wait, why?"

"It's how that black gunk in their mouths gets bigger?"

"In their mouths? But they've got air masks on. I haven't seen-"

A drill came swinging down on Knuckles' head and, interrupting his own thought, Knuckles caught it with his two arms. The weight of it normally would have crushed a person, but Knuckles wasn't a normal person; he used his strength to hold it steady and, with a heave, sent it flying back towards where it had come from. The three attackers dodged the drill-turned-projectile, continuing to run towards them.

"What the heck is going on, Sonic? I just got a strange signal from the ground, and when I get here, everybody looked possessed or something! Is this Eggman's doing?"

"Kind of. Science project got away from him."

"Again?"

"Yeah, again."

Sonic half thought about picking up Knuckles and running from the assailants, but he knew that wouldn't do them any good; they knew he was here, so that cat was already out of the bag. Besides, if he ran, they'd keep drilling on Angel Island, and he couldn't let that happen either.

"Anything I should know about fighting these guys?" Knuckles asked, his positioning for the fight back in place after the throw. "Weak spots? Best counter attacks?"

"Not really. Just avoid their spit, and you'll be fine."

"Their spit? You've got to be-"

As if on cue, one of the figures removed their mask and started bracing themselves. He sucked in air, a gargling sound coming from his throat. The black goop bubbled near his uvula, moving on its own accord like magnetic putty, and it seemed to grow bigger with each passing second. Knuckles looked absolutely disgusted and, before the person could send any bodily fluids through the air, punched him in the stomach. The body doubled over, crumpling up, and the black goop flew through the air before landing in a wet plop a few feet away. The other two quickly moved to replace him in the formation without saying a word, despite being several feet away.

"What the-"

"Yep, they're talking to each other through their heads. Gotta keep up with the times, buddy."

"How-"

"Less talking, more kicking hive mind butt!"

"Hive mi- they're a hive mind, too? Couldn't have mentioned that earlier?"

The two bodies ran to the two of them, flanking them on both sides. They had their own drills, but they were just attached to their arms, and they were otherwise unarmed and unprotected. Sonic ducked down grimacing - normally, he hated hitting actual living things, but right now he had little choice. Swinging his leg in a semicircle, he tripped one of the attackers. Knuckles then smacked down on the assailant's head before arcing his elbow towards the others' head. The latter enemy dodged, and the two exchanged a series of blows just fast enough to ensure the attacker never got to take his mask off. The others incapacitated, Sonic took deep breaths, not realizing how winded he would be after such a short fight. It was always remarkable to see Knuckles fight; he didn't have Sonic's speed or sharp spines, so he couldn't do the kinds of quick jabs that Sonic tended to favor. Instead, his attacks radiated pure power and strength; every blow had his full body weight behind it, and when he missed his attacker and hit the side of the cliff, a dent formed in the stone. Sonic knew if he came in the normal way, it'd be hard for Knuckles to keep fighting and not hit hit. As he saw the fight start to wear on Knuckles, the other's breath becoming very heavy and labored, Sonic started to wonder how exactly he could help.

Then he realized the cliff edge was still close. He grinned and, after a second of two of revving up speed, he took off running up the side of the cliff. He wasn't big, but even something small could do a lot of damage when coming from a high place - and right now, this rockside was nearly as tall as a city building. He could use that to his advantage.

"What are you doing?!" Knuckles called up after him, his voice becoming more faint the longer he continued from the distance. "You're trying to leave me here! And you'll never make it to the top of the rocks!"

"No I'm not, and I know. I don't need to," Sonic yelled from high up. Knuckles seemed so small from up here - a red speck, first the size of his fist, then the size of his fingertip. "I just need to fall in the right place. Keep him still for me, will ya?"

Not waiting to hear a reply, Sonic shoved off the cliff side with his legs and, right away, began to tumble down. The air grew loud as it rushed by, and Sonic tried not to think about what this fall was going to do to him. It had been a while since he'd done this, and to be safe, he angled to only kick with his never-broken leg. His falling picked up speed, and stray rocks from where he kicked off flew down next to him in pebbles. As he got close, he yelled out, hoping to Chaos that his friend could hear him, "Knuckles, under me! Make sure he's in place and doesn't take his mask off!"

Sonic couldn't quite make out Knuckles' reply, but it sounded something like a grumbled "guess I don't have a choice." With one solid shove, he pushed the final assailant into just the right position. Just as the enemy was about to move, Sonic's foot collided with his shoulder and sent him into the ground. Compared to the dent Knuckles knocked into the rock side, this was practically a crater; debris flew everywhere, creating a giant dust cloud obliterating the scene. Even Sonic couldn't see the outcome at first, instead overcome by coughing and trying to get the gravel out of his lungs. I think… I think I got him. But I won't know for sure until…. As everything settled and the crater stopped forming in the ground, Sonic leaned down and confirmed - the attacker was unconscious, but still alive. Breathing out in relief, Sonic bent his knees slightly before they caved in beneath him. When he fell down with a solid thump, he felt himself laugh. His whole body was shaking from exertion and nerves, but he didn't care - this was the most alive he'd felt in months.

"Man," he said, "it's been a while since I've done that! Guess that guy got caught between a rock and a hard place - literally!"

Knuckles groaned before he stopped, confused for a second. "Wait, that's right, you broke your leg!" Knuckles rushed over, bending down to look at his shins in a near panic. "I'm glad to see you on your feet again, but are you crazy? You can't re-injure yourself out here, not now!"

Sonic shrugged. "Relax. We're alright, aren't we? And besides, if I didn't do that, you would've had to fight him until you were both worn down."

"Or you could have fought with me! How's that for a solution? And what's going on around here anyway?"

Sonic stopped and explained everything to Knuckles - the nanites, the Eggman machines gone awry, the experiments by GUN, Shadow's mission… everything except for his more personal reasons for looking for Shadow and Eggman. It wasn't relevant right now… he thought. "So we gotta find Shadow real soon," he said, "and he's gonna help us stop whatever weird plot the hive mind is coming up with now."

Knuckles glanced at the ground, obviously disturbed by this turn of events. "I wonder if Shadow is the one that sent that distress signal, then. Not a lot of people know how to do that.

Sonic tilted his head. "That reminds me. What kind of distress signal are we talking about here? Most of the radio waves and satellites are controlled by those things at this point, and the ones that aren't, everybody's afraid to use."

"Because they think it'll help the enemy find out where they are?"

"Exactly! Cause, you know, the hive mind doesn't need to talk 'cause they do it in their heads, so there's a lot of fake calls that turn out to be traps they set for us. We have to have runners deliver messages by foot, like we're in the Pony Express days or something" Sonic put his hands on the ground, trying and failing to push his spent body to standing. "It's crazy how far we have to go to make sure everybody stays safe."

Knuckles looked troubled, but said very little.

"But you never answered my question. What kind of distress signal?"

The echidna furrowed his brow, still looking at the unconscious bodies. "It wasn't a satellite or radio signal. It was a sort of pulse, going to the Master Emerald. It's in some kind of Morse Code, but when I wrote it down and translated it, it didn't make any sense."

"Like, hive-mind sent it didn't make sense?"

"Like, there's probably a whole other layer of code on top of the Morse code, didn't make sense. I figured if I could make it to the ground and find a Chaos Emerald, I'd at least be able to find the one that's sending out the call-"

"-and hope it's not any of The Taken finally learning how Chaos Energy works." Sonic finally managed to get back on his feet, albeit unsteadily. "I'm game to help, if you need it," he said, flashing a thumbs up while stifling his wobbling.

Knuckles glanced at the off balance hedgehog skeptically, then looked at the collapsed bodies of the intruders. He sighed, picking Sonic up by the waist and slinging him over his shoulders.

"Hey, watch it!" Sonic yelled out. "What do you think you're doing?"

"If you're right, and those guys are part of some bizarre connection-link-brain thing, then we'd better get moving. All of them are going to know we're here, and we can't wait for you to recover from your dumb decisions."

"A dumb decision that saved your free will," Sonic grumbled to himself, pouting but ultimately willing to be carried. "So where do we go, then? You said Angel Island drifted to the ground?"

"Yep. You're looking at it."

Sonic peered up from around Knuckles' shoulder, and his eyes went wide. "Man," he said. "I never realized how tall that place was…."

"Yep. It's over a mile from the bottom to the top. Lucky for you, I'm climbing us up there. Shouldn't take too long."

"And those guys at the bottom? You think they won't wake up and come after us?"

Knuckles scoffed. "The island will be up in the air again before they remember what daylight looks like. Besides, if I managed not to know about this for… how long has this weird robot thing been going on?"

"Four months."

Knuckles scrunched up his face, wincing. Sonic could feel his shoulders tense from underneath him. "Four months… great… then I'm guessing it's still safe to be there for shelter, at least for now. It's about five miles away - we just have to find a way back up there."

Sonic nodded and flashed a thumbs up. "Then climb away, Knuckles. We don't have any time to lose!"

The echidna nodded, readjusted Sonic over his shoulders, and started to climb up the mountain. Neither one of them noticed the twitching ears of one of their assailants.


	16. 78 percent

It took a few hours on Knuckles' shoulders to reach the top of Angel Island. Sonic clung to him for dear life, realizing that if he took another fall from his ever increasing height, he'd be broken and back in a cast again. Knuckles couldn't help from laugh sometimes when Sonic would make nervous sounds, finding different places to grip on his arms, until once he pulled on his dreadlocks and he yelled at him to cut it out or he'd throw him off himself. The sense of relief Sonic felt when being hurled over the edge of the island was almost palpable. He landed on his back, and his hand went to his chest directly as he tried to slow down his breathing. He really hoped this anxiety around heights wasn't going to stick around; that would make life much, much harder as a hero-adventurer.

He sat up eventually once his heartrate slowed a bit, looking at the wildlife around him. Palm trees and small critters lined the ground, but otherwise, nobody was around. It was quiet - not the eerie, imposed quiet of The Taken, but a natural, peaceful quiet. Sonic felt his eyes widen with surprise. Remarkable… it really was uninhabited by anyone except Knuckles.

It almost seemed suspicious to Sonic - there's no way, with literal hundreds of people who only read books in libraries all day contributing to the planet's collective knowledge, that not a single person in the hive mind knew about the existence of Angel Island. But, he guessed, the book knowledge about Angel Island would have just referred to it as a ruin, not mentioning that any of the echidnas survived or that the Master Emerald was any more than a historical relic. That was good news, Sonic thought. It would buy them some time. Maybe after this mission was over, the Individuals could move here instead. It was certainly warmer than their current hideout, and probably safer too.

It felt weird to go to a place that was exactly the same as before the nanites took over. Most of the cities had buildings stripped down to their frames in order to use the metal for reproduction, then rebuilt on top once the nanites read about architecture. As it turns out, they probably realized, taking away the structural integrity of your building was probably a really bad idea. But the new building surfaces were made of a mishmash of materials, varying from one to the next; buildings that used to be metallic chrome would now have solid stone exteriors, or sometimes even wood or plastic. Keeping full buildings had never been The Taken's priority, since they just needed the bare minimum to sleep and do their other nefarious tasks.

All the ruins here were the same as they'd always been, almost completely the same as when Sonic had last come here. Carvings of echidnas past, spanning several generations, lined the inside of the temple walls like the stained glass windows of a church. Echidnas working with Chaos, echidnas with the Master Emerald, echidnas keeping watch over the island… all of them, going further and further out until their details were so worn down by time that they were barely distinguishable. And yet, Sonic could guarantee that Knuckles knew every single one of their stories in excruciating detail, using these as a solid reminder of his people's past. Sonic couldn't help but trail his hand over the side of the walls, as awed as he always was when he came here. He took a deep breath, unable to entirely shake the feeling of intrusion upon sacred space.

He was glad nothing disrupted this place. Having a physical relic, with your own story inside of it… he couldn't even imagine such a thing. Hedgehogs were a dime a dozen, and after he left his birthplace, he'd never gone back. He had no idea what his ancestors were like, or what they'd want him to do. They'd certainly never imagine a scenario like this.

As they approached the inner sanctum, he saw Knuckles' own carving. Not as skilled as many of the others, but then again, there was nobody to teach him how to do it. It struck Sonic in the chest, catching him off guard. When he thought about it, all of them were so similar. Knuckles had to make it on his own, knowing that there was a grand history he knew but had been cut off from. Sonic knew he had a past elsewhere, but had to figure out how to live and fight on his own terms. Shadow had been created as the only one of his kind… the only real Ultimate Lifeform… but felt like that meant he was cursed to be alone. They each were just trying to make it in this world, trying to make sense of where they fit. It was one of the few things he envied about the Hivemind - at least with them, everybody knew exactly what there place was. How they belonged. How they interlocked.

Sonic couldn't help but remember the last several months he'd had with Shadow. They called each other boyfriends, but the word was confusing. Was it a serious relationship, or one of necessity? Was it just about the physical stuff, or did they share with each other as well? And how long did they expect it to last - or, as Sonic thought with a pit forming in his stomach, how would he know if it was over? And then there were the other questions he had based on their current predicament. What did it mean to be in a relationship with someone who was only around every few weeks? When you spent almost all your time together talking about what you did in the other's absence, never fully acknowledging what you were thinking and feeling right then? They'd skirted around it, not particularly fond of talking about their feelings… but now that Shadow coming back was in question, he wished they had. There wasn't an excuse for it; even though it wasn't all the time, they'd spent plenty of nights curled together, waiting for the light to dim, talking about nothing in particular. The two of them were constantly redefining what being 'boyfriends' meant, and after four months, it was starting to wear on him. He wanted more explanation - if for no other reason than for himself.

"I've got the Master here," Knuckles said, shaking Sonic out of his reverie by his booming voice. "Here, look at the dirt beneath it. That's where I put the message down."

Sonic withdrew his hand from the wall like he'd touched something shocking. He turned and walked toward him, keeping his eyes on the ground. A series of dots and dashes were scrawled in the dust, visible but marred by obvious wind.

"Sorry it's not any clearer," Knuckles said, crossing his arms. "Couldn't exactly tell the one sending the signal to stop so I could get a pen and paper."

"Nah, it's fine. I can make it out if I squint." Sonic bent down and narrowed his eyes, looking at the collections of letters. K, I, B, W…. "It looks like nonsense, but it's not. It's a cipher," he said.

"Well, yeah. Didn't I tell you that earlier? You know, back when we were attacked by mind controlled drill diggers? The ones you were so concerned about keeping alive even though they were literally creating giant holes in my island?"

"They can't help it, Knux," Sonic said, looking up annoyed. "I mean, it looks like… what did Shadow's book call it? A Vigenère cipher."

"Shadow's book?"

Sonic blushed a little, even though he had little to actually be embarrassed about. "Yeah. Shadow grabbed me a book about ciphers once from one of The Taken's libraries, while he was grabbing supplies. I guess when you communicate entirely through your brains, you don't need to hide anything behind different alphabets or grammar rules, so I don't think they missed it."

"Why would Shadow bring you a book? You don't read."

"I, uh, kind of picked up the habit while my leg was broken. Gave me something to do, you know?" Not to mention it sometimes served as my only connection to him while he was miles away, in danger, not guaranteed to return….

"So what is a… Vi-shen-air cipher? Can we crack it?"

"Maybe, with some effort." Sonic grabbed a stick and tried to sketch out a graph in the dirt, only to realize that the little ground that wasn't covered in Morse code was covered in footprints, illegible. Instead, he pulled out his journal. "You know that one kind of code where you just shift letters by, like, three, and you get the originals? Like A is written as C, B is written as D, whatever?"

"I… think? Gotta be honest, Sonic, I never really got into that kind of stuff. Enough to learn and memorize around here without filling my head with spy stuff."

"I never was into it either, until Shadow brought me that book about it. I taught myself all the things, and we started using them since was easier to read." Sonic pulled out the journal and, apologizing to himself for marring it with something like this, started writing the letters down on the back page. Kibwkxtbselhypusiqlktfxinroyrttmoectno. "It's called a Caesar cipher. You pick a letter, and that's what 'A' equals, and you just keep going." He scribbled on the page, filling the page with ink at rapid speed until it was nearly unintelligible. "But this looks like gibberish if you do that with just one normal letter, no matter which one you pick."

"Really? I thought that was just your handwriting."

"Ha ha. And if it is Shadow-"

"-and I don't see how it could be anybody else-"

"-then he wouldn't make it so easy. So he'd use Vigenère, which is like the Caesar cipher with a codeword. And that codeword would repeat and be the amount of letters to shift for each one."

Knuckles tilted his head. "You're losing me," he said, as though that wasn't completely obvious already from just his face.

Sonic scribbled in the page, writing down a word. "So, like, if 'emerald' was the codeword, then the first letter would use a Caesar cipher where A turns into E, the second as if A turns into M, the third as if A turns into E, and on and on until the word is over before repeating itself. They're not too hard to crack if you know the word, but really tricky if you don't."

"And you're sure that's what this is?"

"Well, no… but we've got to try it. It's his favorite, 'cause it's hard to crack." Sonic sat down, flipping the filled page over until he could see a blank sheet to fill. "Like, even computers have a hard time with it. But when you figure out the keyword, it's super easy."

"…But we don't know the keyword."

"Just means we have to think like tall, dark, and grumpy for a bit to guess," he said, smiling to himself. After all, if the Medic back at the Individuals shelter was to be believed, nobody was more qualified to think like Shadow than him… well, except Shadow himself, of course.

Knuckles nodded his head. "Those things down there don't exactly understand empathy, so they can't really guess what another person would think. So this would be perfect!"

"Especially when that person hardly has any written stuff saying they exist in the first place. It's hard enough to predict Shadow when you see him all the time - my guess is, he thought nobody could work around something personal to him. You got any ideas?"

Sonic's forehead creased as he tried to think. "I'm not too sure… he'd want to pick something that couldn't be guessed easily. Something nobody else would think to use."

"Robotnik?"

"No, he wouldn't pick something like that."

"Chaos Control?"

"No, that doesn't work."

"Maria?"

"No, too likely for Eggman to know about it too….

Just in case, Sonic started scribbling charts and tables for each word they guessed, putting in the letters of the words in at the top. To be honest, this kind of thing always gave him a headache. He liked it, mind - it was just like solving a riddle where only he and Shadow would know the solution. The idea made his stomach fill with butterflies. There wasn't much of a need for things to be encoded for real before - Shadow's secrets were secrets from everyone, including him, and Sonic really didn't have any from Shadow anymore - but it was fun to trade snippets with him, whether it was kind words or inside jokes.

Inside jokes? That's… Sonic bolted upwards as had a small epiphany, grabbing the pen like it was his final lifeline. "Wait. Oh, Chaos, I think I've got it!" he said, furiously scribbling. The new letters fell into place, becoming a stretch of text that, while still confusing, at least was intelligible.

"First Stronghold, Night of New Moon, Come alone." Sonic stopped, almost amazed that he figured it out. "Is that what-"

"Sonic, you thought of the code word? You got it?"

Sonic looked up at Knuckles. His face didn't have any excitement or concern in it anymore, but he could see the other's hands shaking - the echidna was just as invested in this as he was. "Yeah, I think I got it. Take a look."

Knuckles bent down, glancing at the page before looking back up at Sonic. "'First Stronghold.' What's that?"

"I think he means the first place we set up shelter. Like, a semi-permanent one. It was in the caves outside of the Mystic Ruins." He remembered the place with some fondness; it was a wooden enclosure, hidden in a cave behind a waterfall. If the world wasn't ending, it might've been a romantic vacation spot - he remembered spending early mornings with Shadow, watching the sun rise through the curtains of water, scattering rainbows everywhere through the refraction of light through liquid. And while he was still unable to run back then, he did sometimes poke his head out from behind the enclosure to see the miles and miles of jungle, stretching out into the horizon….

"And 'come alone?' I can't come alone! I can't leave the Master Emerald, not when the world's like this."

"You won't have to, Knuckles. It's… it's a message for me," he said, as the reality of it finally hit him. Sure, Knuckles recieved the message, but he wasn't the only one who could use Chaos. And if it was his and Shadow's inside joke…. He took a step back, clutching the journal to his chest.

"How do you know?"

Sonic handed the book to Knuckles, showing him the deciphered words. "The code word was 'FAKER.'"

"Faker? Why would he pick something like that? And what does that have to do with you?"

"It's what we called each other when we first met. Or, at least, it's what I called him…."

Knuckles looked confused. "Why would you call him that?"

"It's when the government was framing me for things he did, and he was kind of pretending to be me, or so I thought, and- you know what? It doesn't really matter right now. The point is, I'm the only one who would know that. And if he sent it through the Chaos Emeralds-"

"-then only you, me, and Silver would be able to get the message." Knuckles snorted. "Well, what do you know? Shadow's still got a sense of humor."

The mention of Silver made Sonic's stomach sink. "Silver… I forgot about him."

"What do you mean you forgot about him? He's in the future, right?"

"No, he was here when this all started. The nanites took him really early, I think."

Knuckles crossed his arms. "So you're telling me that one of the only four Chaos users in the entire world is under the influence of mind controlling robots?"

Sonic gave off a nervous laugh. "He, uh, may or may not have been part of the original group that infected Empire City-"

Knuckles slammed his fist into a wall nearby, causing dust to come off of it. "What the heck was Shadow thinking, then? He endangered all of us!"

"I don't think so. Silver probably doesn't know he can do stuff with Chaos anymore. We've barely seen him, but he's never used his powers since the nanites took him. He's either playing it close to the chest, or he doesn't remember what he's capable of. And we can use that to our advantage if we ever see him!"

Knuckles did not look satisfied by that answer at all, but let it go. Instead, he cleared up the dust, then scattered the Morse code until it was gone, disappeared from sight. Then he put his hand on the Master, as though asking it whether it was true. "I've never been able to tell before. If individual people are using the power of Chaos." He looked frustrated at this admission. "The stories go, other guardians would know when their loved ones woke in the morning because they'd feel them in the Chaos. Now, I can't even tell if one of four doesn't tap in for months at a time." He clenched his fist again, and for a second, Sonic genuinely wondered if Knuckles was going to punch the Master Emerald out of sheer frustration. "This is humiliating," he grumbled.

Sonic moved up next to him, clapping his hand on the other's shoulder. "I don't think you need to be embarrassed, Knuckles. You're doing the best you can."

"And what good has that been doing, Sonic?" His grip on the Master tightened, and the echidna closed his eyes. "I've been so absorbed in protecting the Master that I didn't think it was strange at all when I didn't hear from you - or anybody else - for a third of a year! The Guardian is supposed to help keep the world in balance. Does the world look balanced to you?" Knuckles' shoulders were shaking. "I'm a failure as a guardian. I should have never allowed this to happen."

"Okay, now you're just being silly." Sonic took his hand off the other's shoulder and started to lean against the Master. He could feel its energy pulsing beneath him like a comforting heartbeat, and he smiled. "In case you haven't noticed, Knux, there's always been wars and problems. You think any of the other Guardians singlehandedly prevented every disaster that happened in their times?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Your job is the keep the Master safe and keep Chaos balanced. Of all the messed up stuff happening right now, Chaos being off balance is not part of it. So you did your job, right?" In fact, from all I can tell, Chaos has been weirdly stable this whole time for the rest of the world being this out of whack… Sonic thought. He didn't say anything about it though, instead turning his attention to the stone. "As far as I'm concerned, you're doing better than all the rest of us combined. So quit worrying about what you could have maybe sort have done sooner if you had known what you didn't know, and start thinking about what it is you want to do now."

Knuckles stepped back from the emerald, looking at it with wide open eyes. "I guess you have a point…."

"You know I have a point. I'm the brains of this operation, after all!"

Knuckles huffed. "Ha! You wish." He stepped down to the dirt, tracing spirals in it with his hand. "Now that I know this is a problem, I should re-up the defenses around the emerald. Check the traps, make new ones, train harder…. I've got a lot of work ahead of me."

Sonic nodded. "Knuckles, can I stay here tonight and get some sleep? New moon isn't until tomorrow night, and I doubt I'll find a better place to set up camp."

Knuckles took his hand off the ground, his rough sketch of a spiral around the Master becoming more clear. "Sure, but do you know how to get to this 'first stronghold' place? You hardly seemed to know where you were yesterday."

Sonic laughed, closing up the journal and tucking it away. "Trust me Knuckles. I can figure it out. Just point me to the closest town, and I can move from there."

Knuckles nodded. "Alright. You can sleep by the emerald and protect it for a night. I have to come up with a strategy anyway."

Flashing a thumbs up, Sonic wandered away from the stone. The sun would set in a few hours. Just enough time to write a long journal entry. This time, when he found Shadow, he'd share all of the writings with him too.

* * *

With a jerk, Sonic startled awake by the same dreams he always had. Water, everywhere, flooding Station Square, demolishing buildings, sweeping away people…. He'd had this same dream every once in a while for the past few years, since he had to face Perfect Chaos for the first time. It still felt real every time, even though he knew upon waking that any danger was long since over, that the lives were long since lost. He was never given the luxury of lucidity, always feeling like this was the first time Chaos overwhelmed the city over, and over, and over again.

It was exhausting.

He yawned, stretched his arms, and got off of the stone slab. He peeked upward at the overhead, seeing the deep night sky. The stars stretched across the expanse like specks of white paint on a dark canvas. Before the calamity, seeing the stars was a luxury he didn't normally have; light pollution ruined it all. But now that he lived in remote places, constantly moving from far flung place to far flung place purposely far from civilization, he got to see them all the time. Still, even after all these months, the night sky never got old. Shadow was right.

Come to think of it, he thought, he never had dreams about Chaos when Shadow was around. Did he help those somehow, or did Sonic's subconscious just feel more at ease in general when he was near? Sonic found The Lyra in the sky, tracing the shape of the harp with his index finger. The story itself was just a faint memory at this point - frankly, Sonic was surprised he remembered the word 'Lyra' - but the words Shadow told him at the end of it hung in the back of his mind like a fleeting dream. What else was it that Shadow said? 'You have to trust others, and you can't look back'?

Sonic kicked a pebble, watching it fly into the night. He let out a loud groan to the sky, tilting his head upward. Why was all this so hard? He wanted to talk to Shadow, to make sure it was really him… but he also was wary. Of course he trusted Shadow, but in the end, he couldn't even know if it was really him.

That comforting feeling in the Master felt even more familiar than he was normally used to. It felt almost like… like the joy he'd get from a high speed race? Why would he think of- _Shadow…_ the thought came before he shook his head. There's no way.

Still, his curiosity getting the better of him, he looked directly at The Master. It was glowing like it always did but something strange - something deep inside him - told him to come closer, to touch the stone. Figuring there wasn't any harm to it, Sonic took his glove off and tentatively outstretched his fingers.

The second he touched it with his bare hand, he felt Shadow's presence like a flood. It didn't make any sense… how could he tell it was him? Why would Shadow be in the Chaos? Knuckles' words from earlier echoed in the back of his mind - 'other guardians would know when their loved ones woke in the morning because they'd feel them in the Chaos.' Was that what this was?

In any case, he let himself feel relieved. He didn't care much about the 'why' or 'how' he could tell Shadow was there. Instead, he felt joy knowing that he was listening, breathing, communicating with him….

A flood of ice went through Sonic's veins. _Wait,_ he thought. _I should tell him something. Let him know…what, that I heard him? That I'm okay? That- alright, sure._

Reluctantly moving his hand off the emerald, Sonic pulled his hand away and moved out the journal again. Encoding a message was the safest way to do this, he thought, and it would be what Shadow would want me to do.

Sonic scribbled, using the makeshift chart in the back of the journal to encode his chosen phrase. His fingers started to show ink spots. This part was never hard. It had been two months ago, when Shadow first got him the book about ciphers and encryption, and he had to struggle through. But it was fun - Sonic had been instantly entranced with the concepts inside, especially since he was still in recovery and couldn't move much. It was like making and solving puzzles at the same time, and even though he'd never been great at them, Sonic loved puzzles. It was even better when Shadow was around, teaching him about the more confusing ones and helping some of the trickier steps click into place. They'd swap notes, Sonic for practice and Shadow for amusement, and while Shadow would use tactical notes from past missions for fodder, Sonic would send him jokes. He'd know when Shadow finished decoding because he'd either roll his eyes or, even better, stifle a snorting laugh.

Maybe Shadow knew something like this would happen, and that book was meant to be more than a diversion, but he still treasured those times. And now, it was hopefully going to pay off.

 _Same code, same key… yeah, this should work._ He shortened his message again and again, because who knew how long he could touch Chaos. Or how much The Taken would notice fluctuations in the underlying energy of the universe. He'd only tweak it a little bit. Just enough to let Shadow know he was there. That he was coming.

Looking over his finished work, Sonic braced himself to actually talk to him. Journal in one hand, Sonic's other gloveless was placed on the emerald once again. Please, please still be there… Sonic thought, but when his fingers made contact, the warmth of the feeling he received told him everything he needed to know. Shadow's there. _He's alive. He's okay!_ This shouldn't have been surprising to him, but it still made him feel relieved. All he had to do was send this message, find Shadow, and -

Sonic stopped. _Wait. How do I send a message in Chaos?_

Suddenly embarrassed, Sonic drew his hand away in a snap. Of course he would get this far, only to realize something so small holding him back. He could wait until morning, but what was the guarantee that Shadow would still be there, listening?

He put it on, closed his eyes, and tried reaching out for that part of the Chaos, the one he knew Shadow was staying behind. _Okay. Think like Shadow. How would he do this? What would he be doing?_ He pictured the many fights he'd had with Shadow. He pictured the races from before his injury where Shadow would cheat, sneaking ahead just at the end. That red emerald, it glimmered from between Shadow's fingers, even in Sonic's memory. Is this… is this just like Chaos Control? Sonic found the thread in Chaos again, that comforting heartbeat, and had to fight not to snap his eyes open. _He's there! Alright. Alright. I'm going to try it. Focus. What's the first letter?_

Careful not to drop his connection, he opened one eye. "G," he whispered to himself, looking at the paper quickly, then closing his eye again. "Dash, dash, dot. Okay, let's do this." He treated the dashes like long Chaos Controls, holding it steady for a second or so before releasing it. Then he did the same again, tired from the first time but still determined. "One…more…bit…." With a burst, he pushed Chaos Control for barely any time at all, immediately taken aback by the impact. He almost got blown back by the force of it, but held on with true grit alone. He wasn't going to lose this final, drifting hint of Shadow. Not now.

Dash, dash, dot. _One letter down._

Sonic started on the other letters, first slowly, then slightly faster.

"…E… dot… D… dash dot dot…L-"

It felt hard to do this, more than Sonic would like to admit. The Morse faded into his mind, becoming seamless with the letters, and he could feel himself swimming in the strong currents of energy.

"…V…W…E…C…S…."

There was a possibility it was all psychological, he knew. He could be so desperate to talk to Shadow, to make sure he could connect with him in such a stressful time, that he could be imagining his ability to send this message. In fact, he wasn't even sure if this 'connection' he felt was really real, or if it was actually Shadow at the other end.

"F,S,I,V,S…."

But if he didn't try, he'd have wasted that opportunity. And that, he couldn't tolerate.

"M,J, YYY."

He fell back with the final dash dot dash dash, finally letting the rush propel him backwards. He could run off back to bed, proud of his efforts. Those words would continue to move, encoded three ways and bouncing through the Chaos of the world.

Sonic tried to walk, but found himself stumbling. It was like he'd just run a marathon - okay, for Sonic, a hundred marathons. His legs felt like lead, wobbling beneath him from strain and exhaustion. Sonic tried to walk a little more, but soon gave up, instead collapsing on the dirt just by the Master Emerald. _This is alright_ , he thought. _I just pushed myself_. He fell asleep out of exhaustion, but still peacefully given the circumstances. He didn't know how, or when, but somehow he knew that Shadow was out there somewhere. Hopefully, he'd get the scrabbled words. He'd use their strange makeshift password. And eventually - of this Sonic was certain - he'd parse out the words Sonic had meant to say.

 _Be there soon. I love you._


	17. 80 percent

Sonic woke to the sound of ropes unfurling from the sky. They snapped in the wind like whips, and Sonic's own eyes snapped open to see where the sharp sounds from. Barely visible in the clouds above the island, large metal structures hovered in the sky, buzzing and growing louder. The Taken, he thought. Did I lead them here? But all of the ones on the ground were passed out! He scrambled to his feet by rolling back over his shoulder, feeling himself tap the Master Emerald with his foot. Grabbing his journal, he called out for Knuckles at the top of his lungs. The sounds of the aircraft were growing stronger, and soon he couldn't hear even his own voice.

Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot! Sonic thought to himself in a continuous loop. His stomach dropped as he saw the structures break through the clouds - mostly wooden helicopters flying above the island, with lines for rappelling covering the sky like a web. Dozens… no, hundreds of The Taken were coming down, flooding the pristine landscape and ruining one of the few untouched places left.

Angel Island was under siege.

Sonic broke into a sprint, unsure of what else to do other than find a hiding place. What tipped them off to come here? Was it just because their digging for minerals got interrupted? Or did they know free thinking people were here? That he was here? Sonic shook his head. Of course they knew he was here. All of them thought exactly the same things, had the same memories, had the same knowledge. The second one of them saw him near Angel Island, fighting with Knuckles, it was all over. Stupid, stupid, stupid! He thought. If I didn't come here, if I didn't jump out from behind those rocks-

He shook his head and took a deep breath, forcing himself to think straight. If I didn't come out there, Knuckles would have been taken by those things, and Angel Island would have been lost anyway. At least we bought ourselves some time. He clenched his fists, dodging handing roots and jumping over traps. The Master Emerald… they wouldn't be interested in it. There's no way they'd know what to do with it. No, they were just interested in the two of them, and they were interested in metals deep in the soil. And the fact that Knuckles wasn't immediately at the stone's side the second he saw the helicopters made him suspect the worst. Of course, it was entirely possible that he was safe somewhere… come to think of it, he had no idea where the echidna slept, or ate, or did anything other than guard that giant stone. He could be huddled up somewhere.

Or he could be unaware entirely, and about to fall directly into the enemy's hands.

He left the ruins and stopped, ducking into a dark corner so he could think. He didn't have a lot of options, as he saw it. He could literally run off the island and just let himself fall… but it was at least a mile's fall to the ground, if the island was close to land. If it was over water… well, he still couldn't swim, so that wasn't much better. He could try to send out some kind of SOS to Shadow, but there was no guarantee Shadow was there, that he would get the message, and that he'd be able to get here in time. And even if he did, what would Shadow do other than maybe Chaos Control him away? He couldn't Chaos Control off; you just couldn't do that with the Master Emerald. It didn't work that way, Knuckles said. Something about not being able to throw things off balance intentionally. And as far as he could tell, there weren't any Chaos Emeralds on the island he could use for that either. And then there was the missing Knuckles. He had to find him and save him from this enemy he didn't know. But how would we find him?

Sonic shook his head, then looked at the sky. One of the Taken was starting to rappel down the rope. An idea - a crazy, stupid idea - sprang to mind as he saw the lingering helicopters in the sky. Yep. That'll work.

Skidding to a stop, Sonic ran in the opposite direction as before. He started looking for any way he could get some height - the trees just weren't going to cut it. He'd need to go in the air to pull this off, just barely more than he could manage alone by jumping. Something that could propel him upwards….

As he got close to the Master again, he saw it. It was covered in vines and dirt, dust revealing how little it was actually used, but it was unmistakable and definitely good enough. "A spring trap," Sonic muttered to himself, then grinned. He ran outside and, seeing the helicopters, began to yell. "Hey! Hey you robot heads! I'm right over here, just waiting for you."

Not seeing a response, he waved his arms over his head, dancing back and forth on his two feet. "I'm waiting!" he said, his voice reaching a nasally quality that he hadn't hit in years. "Come on, you gonna leave me bored here? I want to fight you, or whatever! Don't you want me to know The Purpose, or whatever it is you're always on about? I'm a sitting 'hog!"

It appeared that this finally worked. Some of the helicopters were moving closer, two or three people waiting in each one to descend and convert him to the cause. "Now come on, guys, I only need one!" Sonic said then, as the craft approached and their occupants began to rappel down, he ran for the spring. He flew in the air, and after so long without doing this, he almost got caught off guard by the jolt of his stomach dropping down. He reached the top height, flying above the tops of the trees, and just before he could fall down, he started to spin. Come on, come on, get in place… Sonic thought. One of the invaders moved into just the right position, and he grinned. Perfect.

Like a shattering glass, the homing attack made a sound that reverberated through the air. Sonic kicked the descendant in the stomach and, before he could move too far, grabbed the rope with his bare hands. It stung, fibers digging into his hand, and he regretted never putting his second glove back on. "Hey, can I have your equipment?" Sonic asked the still recovering intruder. She didn't reply, instead making gurgling noises with her mouth. "Oh. Right. You want me to become a mind controlled nanite thing. Yeah, no thanks."

Sonic dodged to the left as she tried launching the black mess at him, and it fell through the air to the ground. "Well, as long as we understand each other," Sonic said. He gripped the rope with both hands and, swinging his body around, wrapped his legs around her from behind. He hit her wrists with his elbows - not long enough to make her lose her grip and fall completely, but enough for him to grab her right glove from her hand. He tried pushing his hand into it, only to find that his fingers wouldn't quite fit. "You know," he told her, "I've never been known for having dainty hands, I guess."

"You are known for protecting," she replied, her voice just as gravelly as the others. "You used to keep the world safe. Why do you fight us now?"

Sonic tossed her glove aside and, with a shimmy, jumped slightly up the rope and put his feet on the intruder's shoulders. "Safety without freedom isn't something I'd ever want," he replied. Shoving himself upward, he launched himself up, using the intruder as leverage. She began to fall down, but after doing some quick mental calculations, he figured out that they weren't terribly far from the ground. She might get some bruises and sprains, but she'll be fine, he thought, climbing up the rope. The other rappeller came down, but he jumped up over him and kicked his shoulder on the way, sending him down after his companion. You know, for a half baked plan I came up with in a desperate frenzy, this is working out pretty well-

His thoughts were cut off by the sound of something small whizzing through the air. He looked down and saw a small dart stuck in the journal's binding, with a small piece of black material inside of it. He ripped it out of the book and whipped it down, but not before he could hear more coming. "Oh, come on!" he said aloud. "It took you this long to figure out the poison dart thing? That's existed since, well, since the echidnas were still around!"

His reply came in the form of more darts, and Sonic found himself squirming on the rope in order to avoid them. His hands hurt like wild, and he could practically feel the fibers digging into his hands. I'm just a sitting duck staying here. Better get moving.

Pushing himself further, Sonic rushed up the rope. For a short time, he thought of using the book as a shield, but stopped himself. He needed both hands to move as quickly as possible.

At the top, the helicopter pilot was waiting for him. His mouth was wide open, hanging over the side of the craft with black dripping from between his teeth. The expression on his face… no matter how much time passed, Sonic thought he'd always be unsettled by it. His eyes were half lidded and fogged over, like he was living in an endless dream. Honestly, that wasn't too far from the truth, either; they always described being taken as being peaceful, connected, calm….

Heck, he could see why that might be tempting for some people. But, no thanks. He was a true blue independent thinker.

With one final lunge, he tackled the pilot out of his chair. The black goop flew everywhere, and Sonic had a moment of panic when he thought some may have landed on his spines. It didn't though, and he sighed in relief before finding some cord in the back of the craft and tying up the pilot with it. Putting a clip on the front, Sonic saw his red and slightly bloody hands shaking. "Sorry, buddy," he said to the uncaring pilot. "Nothing personal, but I'm kind of going to send you to the ground so I can get out of here. No hard feelings, right?"

The pilot didn't reply, instead staring at him with the same blank, glazed over eyes. Sonic clipped him to the rappelling rope and, with as gentle a shove as he could muster, shoved him down. Some other assailants were trying to climb the rope, but the falling body slammed into them and made them fall off in a heap. The resulting pile would have been funny to look at, had they not been innocents brainwashed into a robot hoard's scheme to take over the world.

The helicopter was starting to spin, with nobody at the steering controls, and Sonic began to move more frantically. Lacking scissors or anything else, he pulled up the rope and, using his own sharp spines, cut it off from the craft. He reached for the steering levers again, urgently trying to level out the rapidly spinning craft. Please work, he thought to himself. Please please please….

And with that, it finally did. Gripping the steering levers, Sonic looked for his friend. And unfortunately, he found him.

Knuckles, tied up and held down by a swarm of endless blank, satisfied faces.

Knuckles, writhing and screaming as they leaned in close to him, something black falling on his face.

Knuckles, becoming eerily silent and calm.

And then… Knuckles, like so many others, was gone.

Sonic felt it like a punch to the gut, and tightened his grip on the steering apparatus. He felt the fabric of his remaining glove stick to his hand, blood starting to harden and flake. "I'm sorry," he said, mostly to himself. How many times had he seen this happen now? And yet, it was still hard every single time. If he had looked for him more before taking to the sky, or not gone up here in the first place….

Before he could spend too much time, he heard the whirring of more small darts hitting the air craft. He couldn't stay here and spiral… literally or figuratively. If he stayed, he'd only join them. Taking that as his cue, he flew off, looking for landmarks to guide his way onward. Before he could forget, he pounded his fist into the center console. The tracking system fizzled out in a sea of sparks, and though the shock burned his already injured hand, he was glad for it. As long as he was smart about it, his pursuers couldn't follow him. And eventually, when he found Shadow, they could make a plan to save them.

* * *

From the ground, the newest of The Taken blinked, bending and straightening his massively strong arms. Glancing around, he saw row after row of carved stones, depicting forms that looked like this body. He didn't care about the artistic integrity of it or its historical implications - those rarely meant much in trying to get more resources or more bodies of blood. Hidden memories crept to the surface as he saw them. One reached for a large crystal of some kind, and that puzzled him. Crystals weren't durable. They had monetary value in the way the world Used to be, but now, they were recognized for what they were; overvalued pieces of rock. So what was special about this one?

The others left as the knowledge the island was otherwise inhabited came through, but the newest one stayed. He walked through the buildings, looking for more clues and hidden memories of the carvings, when he saw a large carved gem. It was green and, most strangely, it glowed. He walked to it and touched it with his hand. A rush of energy coursed through him, and he knew that this was Very, Very Good. When he withdrew, he could feel that The Purpose inside him had grown nearly twice as large, just from the contact with the light. Chaos, came a hidden whisper in the back of his mind. He didn't know why, or how, but he didn't concern himself with those kinds of questions. What mattered was the end result, and how it could help The Purpose.

In his mind, where he could see every other mind, he knew the flying objects with more Bodies were returning back for further study. He smiled, putting both his hands and his forehead against the stone and feeling The Purpose grow, and grow, and grow. This was an oversight, but now they knew. They could Read. They could Learn. And using this new power, they can finish making The Vessels. They would be Perfect. They would be Forever.

* * *

 **((AN: I think the weirdest reaction I've gotten to any of these chapters so far has been from a friend of mine, reading one of the earlier chapters where you get into the head of a character taken by the parasites. She said that she almost wished she could be part of something like that, since people would actually realize how interconnected they really were and make a better world - that she wouldn't have to worry about competition or loneliness. That in turn got me to thinking of why Sonic would be fighting against something that would arguably be doing a lot of good in the world. I think this chapter helps sum some of that at, and hopefully makes the story a little less dialogue heavy. Let me know what you think, if you have time.))**


	18. 82 percent

**((AN: You know what sucks? Having a massive fire in your home. You know what sucks even more? Losing both your computer and your backup drive due to said massive fire. You know what sucks even more than that? Having your cloud storage data corrupted and losing everything, including multiple novel length first drafts. You know what sucks the most? Not knowing about any of those things because you were in the hospital for smoke inhalation.**

 **It's been a rough time. I'm rewriting the last third of this story (as well as my other stories) from scratch, as well as doing extra side jobs to help pay medical bills and repair costs for my home, so please bear with me while updates are being really slow.))**

The helicopter lasted a little over two hours before it started going down. The sensors in the craft were strange - nothing lit up or beeped. Were he not paying attention, he may have wondered how that was; if the collective force were all just one giant mind, somebody had to know If he had been even a little more distracted, he wouldn't have noticed how it was drifting downward. Luckily for him, he was all too keen on completely focusing on the task at hand.

Sometimes he got like this when dealing with an especially stressful situation – on a more optimistic day, he might call it getting in the "zone," but today, he knew that it was more about not wanting to think about…well, anything. If he wasn't 100% on this task, then he'd think about Knuckles and the others. And if he thought about Knuckles and the others, he'd think about his own role in their loss. And if he thought about his own role in their loss, he'd get caught in a spiral of thoughts, wanting to know how to make it not happen, even though the enemy was constantly shifting and changing strategy, every day growing smarter, wider spread, bearing more faces of people he used to know….

In the end, he lead the helicopter to a "gentle" crash.

After gathering supplies from the wreckage, he ran off to put some distance between himself and the beacon of smoke. He was determined to move the rest of the way on foot, moving in zig zags and covering his tracks as he went in case he was being followed. A nagging voice at the back of his head kept warning him, even when he willed it to stop - what if there were a backup tracker, what if anyone saw him flying and sent The Taken after him, what if he got to Shadow and it was just a trap, what if-

And then he realized that kind of thinking was useless and kept moving forward.

It was strange. Normally, he didn't get stuck in his own head like this. In fact, his friends would laugh at him for having a one track mind and almost overly positive attitude. Nothing made sense, though, and sometimes the only refuge he could get was in his own head. He kept reminding himself to stop, to take deep breaths, and to focus on what he was doing. After all, there was only limited time before he'd need to meet up with Shadow.

The good news was, he knew he was near the Mystic Ruins. The swampland threatened to suck up his socks and shoes with every step, and the air was filled with the fog of waterfalls. He began to cough, covering his mouth with his arm to muffle the sound, but he didn't mind the thick humidity too much. The dusk's colors, beautiful even as a normal sunset, waved in the haze of the swamp, spinning in the air and pulsing like paint in water. There was a strange beauty to it, one that he'd never been able to find anywhere else. He told himself that if - no, when - the world was right again, he'd have to come back and watch it. He could come out here with a tent, look at the sunset, sleep, then watch the sunrise. This was another place he could really spend time with Shadow, showing him about the strange beauty of the world he seemed so apt to avoid….

Stop.

The bad news was, their first stronghold (and every one after that) was chosen specifically because it was hard to find, even if you were specifically looking for it. In this case, it was cloaked behind rushing water, which was in abundance here - there were waterfalls everywhere, every single nook and cranny. And by his count, he had about three hours to find this place before the sun set and he'd have to wander in the dark. Or conversely, somehow make a torch (that could probably barely light with all the moisture in the air) that would lead his enemies right to him.

Not to mention the thought of drowning while looking for it freaked him the hell out.

As he moved through the swampland, each step making a sucking sound as he pulled his feet out from the mud, he tried remembering as much as he could about where this place was. If he was asked about the inside of it, there would be no problem - he could probably even sketch it out, if asked. He hadn't been allowed to leave, really, and he was constantly bored, so he knew every nook and cranny from exploration. The only times he'd seen the outside were when he'd gone there the first time and when he had to leave it behind. The memory twinged with a fear that was now ever-present, but at the time was still fresh and new. They didn't understand their enemy; just the loud clattering of the break in, and the racing heart rates as they fled for their minds. It was a bittersweet place to return to. The first few weeks after the outbreak, Shadow, Eggman, Tails, Rouge, and he just traveled and camped by themselves, picking up "strays" and combining with other groups as they moved. They eventually had enough people for a small village, with jobs and tasks and, to Sonic's annoyance, rules.

Still, despite everything, he was glad for a place where they could still be themselves. It was why the group that eventually formed called themselves The Individuals; because while they had to work together, what made them special and ever more unique was the fact that each member was independent. They had their own thoughts, goals, ambitions, and priorities. It was chaotic, but it was human, and they had no intention of losing their humanity like so many others.

Sonic closed his eyes for a moment. How could they have known back then that, out of all of Eggman's schemes, this was the only one they couldn't easily fight? Every other seemed as easy as beating a robot down, destroying a computer, going Super and taking out some monster looking thing. But this? Where they knew their enemies were just people at the wrong place at the wrong time? It was much harder. Even from the first group, Rouge was gone. Eggman was MIA. Tails was starting to feel the effects of being closed off and isolated for months at a time. And Shadow… Shadow was always in danger. The whole world was against them, and if they didn't do something soon, the whole world would win.

Sonic could feel something stir in him, and he had a strange idea. Normal means of finding the guy wasn't going to get him anywhere. When he had found Shadow on Angel Island, it was just It was a lot harder to do without the Master, or even a normal Chaos Emerald, but if he could tap into the Chaos, even now….

He sat down, trying to cross his legs and meditate like he'd seen Knuckles do a few times. His hands still stung like hell from repelling, even though he managed to bandage them with a med kit from the copter before he headed out. He'd lost his other glove in the process - it had been too stained with blood for use anymore, and besides, it looked funny on him anyway. The stinging of his pain and the bizarre, foreign feeling of crusted bandages on bare hands was distracting, and that was all it took for him to lose his concentration. He groaned, loudly, and he could hear it echo through the fog and the trees.

Breath.

He closed his eyes again, trying to move away from the pain.

Inhale.

Exhale.

He could almost feel his heart beating in his chest, and he tried to reach out. It almost felt like he did at Angel Island, but it was a vague haze. It reminded him of a time he tried on someone else's glasses, then tried to see far away. He felt like he was being watched, but tried to ignore it. It was irrational. It had to be.

Inhale.

Exhale.

He almost could make out a shape. Not seeing, really, but feeling. Spines splayed out from its head, and power came off of it in waves.

Inhale.

He reached out to it. His entire body light up like touching a live wire.

"You look like a fool doing that."

Sonic shot open his eyes and looked up, beckoned by that deep, familiar voice, and he resisted the urge to jump up and hug him. Shadow! Completely okay, and right here!

Instead, he replied, "Aren't you the one who's always telling me I should be better at this Chaos stuff?"

Shadow huffed, but had a small smile on his face. "I'm not talking about you being completely inept at something as basic as finding the most powerful Chaos user in the world when he's literally five feet away from you. I'm talking about the fact that your body seems to be sinking in mud, and you're not even bothering to move."

Sonic's eyes darted down. It was true - the entire outsides of his legs, shoes, and socks were buried in swamp sludge. "Oh, man," he said, trying to stand up and failing. "Did I seriously just sit in quicksand?"

Shadow offered his hand, and Sonic took it. It felt warm… comforting. "No. But honestly, how did you expect to find me in the Chaos of Mystic Ruins, of all places, when you can't be aware enough of your surroundings to avoid sitting in sticking tar?"

Sonic got pulled out of the sinking mud, and he couldn't suppress the urge to hug the other one anymore. His arms wrapped around his torso, and after a beat, Shadow returned with his own grip. "I missed you," Sonic said, the humor gone from his voice.

"You say that every time we're apart."

"Because I always mean it."

He trailed his fingers through the other's spines and smiled. It had been a while since he and Shadow were close like this. He felt the other's heat against his, his real, physical heartbeat against his chest, and sighed in contentment. For a moment, all the tension and the anxiety faded away. He was here. Shadow was here. They were both safe and together at last.

When they broke apart, he remembered why they were there. "I thought I was supposed to meet you at night. You said the new moon, right?"

Shadow's face darkened, even more than it usually was. "There's been a change of plans. Angel Island has been compromised." He scowled at this, and Sonic could see his fist clench tightly. "The Master is likely taken, and Knuckles as well. We need to move quickly."

Sonic flinched at the mention, trying to suppress it as much as possible but failing. "Yeah… I was there," he said, shifting in his steps. The mud on his legs started to dry, making him feel even more stiff than he already was.

"On Angel Island? Why would you be there?"

"Knuckles found me when I was on my first Scout mission. He didn't know what was going on at all. He didn't know about The Taken-"

"The Taken? I thought we were calling them The Hivemind. Or The Brainwashed."

"Not important right now, Shadow. Point is, he didn't know, and they could have come at any time. I tried to tell him what was going on, and he needed me to help him with something, but they followed me there. If I hadn't come… they might not have found it." And Knuckles would probably still be okay, he finished in his head, before squashing the thought down.

Shadow stopped, adjusting his gloves on his hands. "The echidna. He was still himself?"

"Yeah. He was looking for clues, and I was looking for you."

Shadow crossed his arms. "And why would you be looking for me? You're a Scout now, right? You shouldn't have been seeking out another Scout."

"Are you serious? You sent me a message! I thought you'd be happy to see me."

Shadow deflated a little, and suddenly, he looked exhausted. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you. And I'm glad you got my message. I wasn't sure you would, but I had to try."

"They sent me to look for you. The doctor, and the others. They saw your sketches."

"Right. We need to hurry, especially now that we have less time. Chaos Emeralds are hard to find these days, but I should have known you'd have one. And now," he said, pulling out an emerald of his own from his spines, "we can fix this whole mess."

Sonic tilted his head. The emerald glinted red, flickering like a candle. "Fix it? What are you talking about?"

Shadow looked at him like he was being particularly stupid . "With the Chaos Emerald. The one you talked to me with. The one you got my message through."

Sonic's stomach sank, and he looked at his mud covered legs in embarrassment. He wanted to go back in the mud and sink again, never coming out this time. "I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?"

"I…" he said quietly, rubbing his fingers hands together. "I don't have one. I'm sorry."

Shadow gaped at him for a second. After a time, he replied with an eerily flat, calm tone of voice. "What do you mean you don't have one? You said you got my message."

"Yeah, but not from a Chaos Emerald! I got it from the Master!"

"The Master? What do you mean you got it from the Master. The only way you could have done that is if you-" He stopped, His eyes shooting open, then faded with disappointment. "Right. On Angel Island. You were there. You saw it fall."

Sonic didn't know what to do, so he reached out and touched Shadow's shoulder. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

The dark hedgehog turned from him and cursed, grimacing, before speeding away. Sonic darted out to him, trying desperately to close the gap. "Where are you going?"

"We have to get to the cave, and then we need to find a Chaos Emerald."

"Why do we need a Chaos Emerald? Not that I mind getting one, but-"

"I promise I'll explain everything, but we don't have time now. You need to come to the cave with me."

"I thought we weren't going to the cave after all."

"I mean, we're not going to the cave after dark. They would know to find us there. But I need your help."

"What is it?"

Shadow sighed and shook his head. "I have Doctor Eggman tied up there, and I can't carry him away by myself. If we're going to get out of this mess, we'll need to do it with his help."


	19. 84 percent

**[[AN: This was hard to write the first time, and even harder to write the second time. I'm still not entirely happy with it, to be honest. At least now, it's in a state where I'm okay with putting it up so I can move forward – sorry about the delay, but juggling three sources of income and two new sources of debt is pretty time consuming.]]**

No sirens.

No alarms.

No vehicles of any kind.

So why did they run like they were being chased?

They wove through trees and stuck to the shadows. It was a skill they had from years of practice infiltrating bases and sneaking into temples of forgotten gods, but for the first time he could remember, this was the only way they could travel…well, anywhere. Something small in the back of his mind reminded him that they only lasted this long because they had gained these skills in the time before; the innocents, the ones he tried to protect, were too trusting and were among the first to fall. Normally he tried to ignore thoughts like this, but when doing nothing but following someone else, it was all too easy to get lost in thought.

His legs ached. It wasn't a purely physical sensation – even with the time off his feet, running a few miles had never been a big deal for Sonic – but something in his mind snapped into a frenzy. Shadow would lead the way, and he would follow, but that didn't mean he wasn't pushing his upper limits to try to get through the mud and muck as quickly as possible. In a weird way, it was exhilarating. In another, it was terrifying.

Though it had seemed like hours, it had only been about fifteen minutes until Shadow located their destination. The cave turned out to be one of four, all close to each other. "They're interconnected," he managed to hear Shadow say over the roar of the air and the water. "I filled them with traps. Nothing too elaborate, but enough to slow them down. You need to stay close to me, though, if you don't want to become skewered. Or burned."

He was about to ask how Shadow had been able to set up so much security in a wet hole in the rock with next to no materials, but before he could get the words out, he saw an unwanted sight near one of the outer entrances. A gator, though without the chains he was used to seeing around his neck. A chameleon, who had seemingly forgotten he could become invisible at will. A bee, depleted of its trademark energy by the unspeakable forces inside of its head. Many other faces he'd seen, he'd cared for, he'd trusted.

He'd lost.

With a sharp yank, he grabbed Shadow's arm and pulled him back, stopping him in his tracks. He redirected the other's momentum, leading the two of them into a hidden cluster of trees.

"Argh!" Shadow shouted in obvious pain. "What the hell do you think you're-"

Sonic covered the other's mouth with his hand, using the other to point at the entrance of one of the caves. Congregated outside was a large group of the Taken – the ones who had been stolen from them the night they left, along with a few other familiar faces. Aside from Vector, they had never found the other Chaotix before they had been taken; in a strange way, it was almost laughable that they were finally together again in circumstances like this. Shadow's eyes widened, and Sonic pulled his hand away.

"I see. We'll have to be smart about this," Shadow whispered. Sonic nodded in return, then put his hands on his hips.

"You know any other entrances other than these four?"

"Not right now."

"And what are the odds that the other three caves aren't heavily guarded or being searched?"

"Slim to none."

"Great. Yeah, I figured."

Shadow peered through the trees, careful to not expose his face. He knew just as well as Sonic, if not better, that stealth was very, very important when facing the Taken. After all, if one saw him, they all would. There was no way they were going to stay out of sight going through one of those caves – they'd be spotted and overwhelmed instantly.

"I have an idea." Shadow looked back at Sonic. "But it's not a good one."

Sonic blinked. "I love not-good ideas. What're you thinking?"

"In fact, it's a terrible idea. We could get ourselves killed."

"Shadow, just say it. Coming from the guy that normally has the stupid idea, it works a bazillion times better if you skip the preamble."

Shadow's gaze was intense. It almost sent a shiver down Sonic's spine. A familiar gaze – like when they were still enemies, right before Shadow sent him into space and tried to kill him. Not threatening, really, but focused and determined. "We could make our own entrance," he said plainly.

"What, you mean like blow a hole in the side?"

"Yes. I don't have an Emerald on me, but I could still do one Chaos Blast without it. That should be enough."

"Won't they know where we are immediately and come straight for us?"

"Yes, but there won't be as many of them deep inside the tunnels, especially with the traps. We can overpower them long enough to get to the Doctor, and if the emerald is still there with him-"

"You left a Chaos Emerald with the Doctor!?" Sonic balked. It felt strange to be the voice of reason for once. "As in, the mad scientist that started this whole mess? The one that's used the power for literal world domination plots multiple times? Are you-"

"I didn't have a choice, and besides, he's tied up. He couldn't do anything with it." Shadow put his fingers on the bridge of his nose, as though suppressing a headache. "Damn. And if it's still there with him, it's even more important to get there quickly."

Sonic gripped his face, trying to hold back from every judgemental thought going through his head. "Okay. So exploding a giant hole in the side of the rock and hoping we land somewhere in the tunnel close to the Doctor and the gem capable of shifting reality, dodging traps and a hoard of mind controlled former allies who want to turn our brains into black goop factories, grabbing the two of them and Chaos Controlling out-"

"-which you'll probably have to do. It will be tiring to do a Chaos Blast with no emerald-"

"-right, _I'll_ be Chaos Controlling us out, even though I've never moved more than just myself under literal threat of death, to a place that we're not entirely sure will actually be safe? Easy peasy, right?"

In reply, Shadow just grabbed his hand. "If we're going to find a good place to destroy, we need to start looking now. Let's move."

* * *

The plan went surprisingly well… for the most part.

The two somehow managed to scale the side of the soaking wet cliffside without attracting the attention of the Taken or falling down. The rushing of the water hadn't been as strong as it looked, but it was enough to make Sonic really, really uncomfortable. It was like an involuntary cold shower, where you also had to climb the side of the tile with the faucet at the top. Shadow didn't seem bothered, but he also couldn't really see him, so his impressions weren't necessarily reliable.

He insisted on not splitting up to search – "Don't you know that not splitting the party is, like, the first rule of anything where you don't want to die?" – but he had to admit that it was mostly for selfish that he was so concerned. After all, Shadow had been alone for months without incident, but that had never stopped Sonic from worrying about him. And now he was here – right here! – and like hell was he going to go anywhere Sonic wouldn't be able to find him now. He felt a little silly about it, but in the end, it wasn't being overprotective. It was just good sense – or so he told himself.

The explosion was a surprise, even to Sonic. It sent a spray of rubble in all directions, sounding an echoing boom out. Sonic didn't look down – typically that was a bad idea at higher altitudes unless strictly necessary – but he could picture the reaction from down below. An upward snap of dozens of heads. Those glazed over eyes, peering towards the sky. A wordless understanding instantly achieved, to… do what? Keep going through the tunnels? Start climbing themselves? Block the exits? All three? Whatever they did, it would be thought of instantaneously and would almost certainly be the best strategic step, like a computer calculating the next chess move.

He was always bad at chess.

Shadow fell inward, and Sonic came after him, tumbling down into the now exposed cavern. It was never painfully bright outside, but the darkness in here was permeating. There was more running, but this time slower to avoid the dangers that could be lurking. Shadow wobbled, exhausted from the blast just like he'd predicted. He stepped in odd sequences to avoid traps, but panted heavily like it was a strain to do so. Sonic wanted to tell him to slow down, to take a break, but he knew Shadow would never do that willingly. He let him lead the way. A few minutes later, Shadow's knees buckled underneath him. Sonic rushed forward, catching his boyfriend under the arms before he could hit the ground.

"I think that's enough," he whispered, trying not to attract any more attention. "Can you show me a good hiding spot? At least until you're steady enough to stay upright?"

Shadow had grunted, then pointed in an especially dark corner. Sonic turned around and let Shadow on his back, carrying him piggyback until they were in an especially secluded corner of the cave. "They…won't find….us here," Shadow said between pants. "This part… of the cave… nobody has been here before. They… they won't recognize it."

So there they sat, surrounded by the darkness and each other.

He knew it was twilight outside, but in here, it was cool like the morning after rain. The cave walls dripped. Unlike the outside, all the liquid here had condensed on the walls, leaving the air easy to breath and the walls shining. There was still little light, but what there was flickered and reflected back to them. At times, he didn't know whether his eyes were closed or open – it looked the same, with spots moving in his vision, barely visible in the dark. If hadn't known exactly where he was, or who he was with, or exactly how much time had passed, he would've felt disoriented. He could hear – not well, but enough – the shuffling of footsteps, far off. The patrols were searching, and while the two knew they had to find the Doctor soon, they also knew they couldn't leave…at least not yet.

Instead, they managed to find something they could do in silence in the dark.

The two tried to control their breathing, making it more shallow despite a raised heartbeat. After a while of leaning against each other, Sonic realized that as screwed up as this was, it had been the first time the two had really been alone in months. He gripped Shadow's hand, clasping it tightly. Shadow's breathing was hard and labored, like it took physical effort to stay here and alive.

Sonic knew he couldn't move – or at least, he shouldn't move – so he turned himself around. The grace of it would have been a dancer's envy, a gentle maneuver that may as well have been choreographed. He laid Shadow down on the cold stone floor, putting his other hand behind his head as a sort of makeshift cushion. His fingers wove through the other's spines in a light touch, and he could feel Shadow let out a long, comforted exhale. The two weren't safe, they were never safe, but at least for now they didn't have to worry about dying or running or fighting. Instead, they could take a moment to just… be.

Sonic leaned down to kiss Shadow, and the other returned the gesture gladly. His tongue came inside, lightly exploring the Sonic's mouth, and despite all their time apart it felt as natural as though they did this every day. The taste wasn't the best, which was to be expected given the circumstances, but he didn't mind it at all. The act of it was innately appealing – no, that wasn't the right word. It was _hot_. They were in danger, but being together like this, knowing any moment they could be caught, gave a new urgency.

He couldn't see him, but he could feel him. He let go of Shadow's hand and instead trailed it up the other's thigh, feeling individual hairs on his fingers. He squeezed slightly as it came close to the top. Shadow reached up, his own hand gripping him by the back of the head. The hold was not so gentle as Sonic's own - firm without being rough, he thought. _You're staying right here_ , it told him. _I'm not letting you go anywhere._ He almost laughed to himself at this odd paradox – he didn't like to belong to anybody, to be protected by somebody else. But as he grazed his tongue over the other's teeth, leaning in to the kiss in the dark, he knew Shadow acting possessive was a turn on. He wasn't anybody's, but he was _his,_ he was _his._

His chest tightened. He could feel his blood rushing, even as he closed his eyes. The chill of the cave gave way to an unexpected heat, like their kiss welded them together. He sucked in air in the off moments, feeling dizzy from the combination of it all. He wanted to moan, but he knew he couldn't. They couldn't be discovered over something so simple, so _animal_. He buried his face into the other's chest, letting out what he couldn't stifle, and he felt his heartrate spike in panic. His eyes shot open, and though they still hadn't adjusted to the dark, he somehow was able to tell what expression was on Shadow's face: panic. The good, warm heat from earlier flushed away, and Sonic scrambled away embarrassed.

They sat in the corner for hours. No sound but their breathing, which they tried to keep quiet. No heat but each other, which they readily took advantage of. They took great pains not to get carried away like before, but even wrapping their arms around each other helped to fight the stagnancy of this place. When they couldn't hear anyone anymore, Sonic risked a whisper.

"Shadow?"

"Yes."

"I don't want us to get separated again." He squeezed the other's hand, as if to make up for not looking him in the eye. "I know it's supposed to be safer, but I don't care about being safe. Don't think I ever cared, really."

He heard a huff from beside him. The breath felt warm against Sonic's cheek, like steam from a furnace. "And you think I don't care about you being safe either, is that it?" The statement wasn't angry, but it was annoyed – as though Shadow were talking to a petulant child wanting to ride a roller coaster he was too short for. "We're doing this mission, but if it fails-"

"Then the world is doomed anyway." Sonic meant for the words to come out sarcastically, but it hadn't quite made it there. Instead, he felt exasperation creep into his own voice, a choking sound echoing off the walls. "I mean, it's true though, isn't it? We've been running from hiding place to hiding place, and as far as I know, this is the first we've ever gone back to. How long can it be before we run out of places to hide?"

Shadow shifted, the fur on his arms surprisingly still soft even after running and the sticking humid air. "You just healed. You're not running at full speed. You couldn't even find me without practically handing yourself to the enemy-"

"And you have a history of amnesia under the lightest provocation and alien blood from starfish invaders from space. Neither of us are exactly the prime candidates to save the planet, yaknow?"

"And of course, you're not listening to me. You never listen to me."

Sonic was about to rebut, but shut it down before it could get out.

"What I'm doing now is dangerous, and I can only do it because I'm used to running from the authorities. GUN work. My 'history of amnesia,' as you so kindly put it." Shadow pushed himself to sitting, using his regained strength to meet Sonic's eye level. Their eyes had long since adjusted; even though Sonic couldn't see the exact shade of blazing red of Shadow's eyes, he could see the intensity behind them. "Without those, I wouldn't have survived this long. You're like… you're like a firework. There's no way to hide you, and even if we did, you wouldn't be doing what you're good at."

Sonic paused. Technically, it was a fair point – even if he could be good at hiding when the circumstances called for it, it was never his first choice. In fact, he hated it. Nobody should have to hide – not because they don't feel safe, or they don't feel secure, or they don't want to be seen. What was the point of being alive in this world if you just put yourself away? But he could understand Shadow's thinking; as idealistic as he normally was, now was not the time to lecture about personal freedom and expression. "Then what do you suggest?" he said. "You think I should go back to the North Pole and wait to get attacked? Because you know they will find it and attack at some point. I can't do anything if I'm stuck up there."

Shadow groaned, then pushed out, exasperated. "What do you want from me, Sonic?" he asked, and it stung in his chest like barbs.

The walls dripped, and even though the cave was close to silent, every sound felt deafeningly loud. "I want…" He said, feeling his thoughts tornado about in his head before he stopped. What _did_ he want? He hadn't felt like he could really want anything for a long time, except for the world to go back to a sense of normalcy, and to see Shadow again. But saying he wanted those things was like saying he wanted to have food and water. How could you want something that felt so basic? Was it really a want if you felt like you'd die without it? And surely Shadow knew of it too, since even when he talked about staying apart, he could feel the quiver underneath the steel gaze and the stumble beneath the smoothly said words. He knew, even if he wouldn't admit to it, that they couldn't stay apart forever. So, being together by itself? It couldn't be the answer. If he was honest, he wasn't sure what the right answer was. But if he said nothing here, then the question would ricochet forever, and they'd never get a source of peace again.

"I want you to be okay," he landed on. The words came out quietly – not a whisper, but a tired sigh. "I don't like having to be apart from you because I know you don't need me, and I don't need you, but we're better together. I don't want you to run off on your own because even though you think it'll make me safer, it'll just make me worry. And I think that now that I'm out here, I can't ignore that everyone is being caged inside themselves, and that when I go to fight them, you'll just worry too." The sentences flowed out like the waterfall outside, lots of drops coming together in a deluge. "And both of us pretend to be these strong, invincible guys. Like, beating up the robots and stopping the demi gods from destroying everything. And in a way, we were. But now the thought of you hurt or…gone… it's worse than anything else I can imagine. And maybe we're not so invincible anymore, because we have each other, and part of being together is to be vulnerable. But more than anything right now, what I don't want is for that to change, because after having that, I'd never want to be without it."

Shadow's eyes opened wide for a second. Sonic wasn't normally one for giving speeches – it was more like him to give the 'just a guy who loves adventure' level of discourse with another person – but even with all of Sonic's excitement and talking for the time he'd known him, he couldn't remember him saying anything with that much… what was it, exactly? Emotion? Drive? No, there was another word… he couldn't put his finger on it….

He opened his mouth to reply – but then his ear twitched, he grabbed Sonic, and pulled him down. A loud bang sounded from the wall near their corner, debris falling everywhere. Sonic felt the air escape his lungs. How loud had he been? Would they be found because he couldn't keep his mouth shut…again? He embraced Shadow, determined to keep tight hold of him, before he heard a familiar grumble.

"Are you two pincushions done?" it said, stopping to cough on the dust before stepping through. His coat was torn and no longer the bright red it formerly had been, and his arms and legs bore the visible remembrance of ropes holding him in place, but it was unmistakable. "I hate to break up…whatever this is," the Doctor said, "but I had to improvise an explosive device with a Chaos Emerald, cave moss, and parts of my beautiful coat in order to find you."

Shadow whipped his head to look at the Doctor and glared. "How the hell did you-"

"Oh please. You think a criminal mastermind doesn't know how to get out of rope ties? I have an IQ over 300 and a lifetime of evading prison. Now grab the emerald and get us out of here, before the others catch on to what we're doing."

He pulled said stone out of the makeshift device, which promptly fell apart around it. Sonic tried to make out what it was – he could see a buckle bent into some strange contraption – but before he could make out too many details, Shadow had grasped both of them and whirred them to a place Sonic could only assume was far, far away. It was only then that Sonic could think of the word – the word to describe his outburst, for his adventure out here, for his strange behavior over the past few months. He almost laughed out loud at himself. It was so simple!

Love. It had always been love.


End file.
